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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115356">All is Fair in Love and War</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkLover27/pseuds/DarkLover27'>DarkLover27</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Depression, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Friends to Lovers, Good Parent Hank Anderson, I've had it in my head for almost half a year now, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Hank Anderson, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, pls don't hate me, veeeery slow</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 03:36:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>24,955</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115356</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkLover27/pseuds/DarkLover27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ava Blum, the young and talented detective of the Detroit Police Department just got home after one year abroad, where she lost everything and now she needs to readjust her life. This seems hard enough, but gets even harder when she meets Hank's adopted son, Connor. Meanwhile Connor, who is freshly deviated, tries to learn everything about life and humans, but he never expects to learn this much about the strongest and most illogical feeling among humans: love.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connor (Detroit: Become Human)/Original Female Character(s), Gavin Reed &amp; Original Female Character(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Heey~~</p><p>khm... *fixing clothes nervously* this is the first time I have written a DBH fanfic, and also the first time I have written anything in English... so please bear with me ^^" I hope y'all will love it as much as I do.<br/>Okay I won't hold you up ^^<br/>Good reading ^^</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>Chapter One – Coming home</em>
</p><p>Miles beneath the plane-giant American land spread out with its green fields and small towns. At least that was your guess; fortunately, you weren’t seated next to the window, but asked a stewardess if the plane reached the continent and she told you that in less than half an hour it will land in the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Now these were not the best news you ever heard. Almost a year had passed since you left America and everything behind, without even saying proper goodbyes. Thousands of questions wanted to pop up in your mind but it could not let be happen, panic could not take over the control.</p><p>You took a deep breath and closed your eyes. Concentration was the key to hold the thoughts together, keeping the dark and bothering ones out for the moment. Suddenly something warm touched your forearm. Your eyes shot open and quickly searched for the source of the warmth. The old lady in the next seat gently stroked your arm with a kind smile.</p><p>“Don’t worry darling. We are almost there and the landing is not worse than the departure.” The kind woman obviously tried to comfort you, for which you smiled, although not a single word has left your mouth. Talking would have been too much at that moment.</p><p>Soon the passengers were asked to sit down and seat their belts, just before the landing has begun. Suddenly every thought that had been avoided so carefully, hit the surface, and occupying it. Mostly about the people you left behind, even if unintentionally, and the thought of losing them all. That the loneliness will be even greater, life will be emptier than it was in Europe. And with that the faces of your friends you made, and then left behind in Europe also creeped up.</p><p> The trail of thoughts and the emotional roller-coaster they caused ended finally when the plane landed. It was high time you set foot on the land you craved for, but didn’t even feel like home anymore. You headed towards the exit immediately, leaving out the suitcase pickup checkpoint, because you didn’t have any suitcase. Arriving at the big, two sided glass door, you saw home at least.</p><p>He didn’t change a bit. Silver hair caressed his shoulders, beard looked like he left it growing out of laziness, which he actually did. On his T-shirt was the name of some old heavy metal band, one you never heard of. The only thing that was unusual, was his expression, which was nervous maybe? Only on rare occasions could people see some feeling on his face, other than the usual grumpiness and anger. Suddenly you felt hesitation and fear, but after a moment of hesitation, with a deep breath you stepped out, to the terminal.</p><p>His head immediately darted to your direction, as if an invisible rope pulled it as he felt your presence. A large smile had spread across both of your faces and you felt your tight control being loosened. You planned every detail in your head, but now it did not matter as you ran to him, and threw yourself into his arms.</p><p>“Ava” he could only whisper your name, as he hugged you tight. He wasn’t fond of showing too much affection, but this time he was not able to let you go.</p><p>“I’m so sorry Hank.” You promised yourself you won’t cry, but the tears started to cruelly fall down. “You were right; I should not have...”</p><p>“Quit it, kid!” he scolded you, softly, while stroking your back. “Don’t push yourself too hard, you did everything you could. I’m just happy you are back. Now let me have a look at you.”</p><p>With his hands on your forearm he put a bit of a distance between you two, and monitored you from head to toe. Hank wasn’t pleased with the many scars and bruises he saw, especially after he realized how many more could be invisible under your jeans and leather jacket, and fear crept in his eyes when he put his hand on your shoulder and you hissed.</p><p>“What is this?” Hank asked, and the look on his face told you that there is no use in denying and saying you are fine.</p><p>“I don’t think this is the perfect place to talk about this. How about we head to the car?” You put your hand on his forearm and smiled softly. His expression did not soften and you knew that he will stay like that if you don’t tell him what happened, thus you took a deep breath.</p><p>“I got shot.” You said quietly.</p><p>“You what?!” he shouted, in the middle of the airport. Now everyone stared at you, your face became deeply red.</p><p>“Please Hank calm down! I’m fine now it is healing! And don’t shout, I don’t want everyone’s attention.”</p><p>He fell quiet, and you knew he is boiling inside when his hand landed on the centre on your back and you had been guided towards the exit. You put your arm around his waist, as you walked many times with your father, starting your quest to calm him down. You smiled at him, and his expression softened, as you stepped out into the nice, late spring sunshine, which meant you reached your goal, quicker than you thought. You made your way to the parking lot, but just before you would have stepped between the long row of cars, Hank suddenly stopped. There was a troubled expression on his face and he started to scrape his neck.</p><p>It was kind of funny seeing him like this, as he was never the guy who got embarrassed easily, yet you were concerned about what he could be thinking of. Maybe he did not forgive you, after all, maybe he wanted to tell you to get lost and never contact him again. As your heart rate quickened pretty fast, he let out a big sigh and started to speak in an uncertain voice.</p><p>“I have to tell you something, but… I don’t know how much do you know about what had happened here while you were gone.”</p><p>The big rock had fell off of your heart, and instead you became suspicious.</p><p>“Well, if you are trying to refer to the revolution, I have worked with androids in Europe as well, and you know… news spread pretty fast. We basically followed the events through live broadcast.”</p><p>“Oh so I don’t have to make a shitload of explanation. Cool, cool, cool.” While you were concerned, his frustration to form the sentences really entertained you. “So the thing is that I kind of adopted a deviated boy.”</p><p>For a moment you were so taken aback that you could not say anything. You never thought that this day would come, not after… after everything that happened with Cole. The fact that you found Hank alive, that he did not drank himself to death was already an overwhelmingly good feeling, and now that that whole in his heart was filled again, you could not be happier. Yet, not only happiness, but relief filled you as well, now that you knew that he was not alone for a long time after you left made your remorse to bear a bit easier.</p><p>“Hank, I am so happy for you!” you said and gave him a strong, warm hug, while thinking, that you did not smile or show this much physical affection for month. It made you feel a bit alive again. “I’m looking forward to meet him. I just hope that I still have that good effect on kids and he will like me.”</p><p>“Yeah well, he is not much of a kid, but… just see for yourself.”</p><p>As you followed Hank, and approached the car his stepson got out. Although you weren’t aware, you were in for a hell of a surprise.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Well hello again :D</p><p>I just wanna say, that if you have any question feel free to ask, also if this chapter was too short (or too long) lemme know, and I do my best for the next one ^^ I'm planning on updating every monday and friday, I hope I can keep up with that schedule :D</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter two – The lost child is back</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey!<br/>Soo, here's the next chapter ^^ I tried to make it longer, because the first one was hella short. Anyways, please enjoy ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This famous magic of yours, that made kids like you quickly wasn’t needed, as Hank’s stepson was actually a grown-ass man. He was very tall, at least ten inches taller than you and with an elegant everyday suit he hid his visibly muscular body. A mop of his hair hanged in front of his forehead and a very kind and warm smile spread across his beautifully crafted face. You felt your cheeks burning, which became even worse when you saw recognition flashing through in his deep, chocolate brown eyes. Suddenly every common knowledge left you, starting with the ability to walk or to speak.</p><p>“Ehm… Hi!” the words needed to be pressed out and you reached out for a handshake, which he accepted. As his soft skin touched your hand the world turned around and you <em>almost</em> forgot to introduce yourself. “M-my name is Ava Blum, it’s nice to meet you.”</p><p>G-d you felt so dumb.</p><p>“Welcome home Ava, my name is Connor. How was your trip?”</p><p>If Connor wouldn’t have been an android, you would have thought that he was trying to be polite. But no, the fact that he asked you this question made you realize that Hank hasn’t told him anything, and you couldn’t decide if you are happy or worried, because you were sure that at some point you had to tell him. He was Hank’s son after all. Fortunately, this was not that point.</p><p>“Let’s just say that it wasn’t the best I have ever been.”</p><p>Connor’s led turned to yellow for a short moment, then immediately back to a calm blue as he decided to not to push you for now. “I am sorry to hear that.” Was all he said as he opened the for the passengers’ seat and gestured you to get in. It made you a bit uncomfortable as you did not want to get away his place, next to Hank.</p><p>“That’s sweet Connor, but the backseat is perfectly fine for me.” Before they could resist you hopped into the back of the car, and fastened you belts. As Hank drove out of the airport, you stared the well-known, yet still unfamiliar city. It felt like as if part of you came home, but the other part stayed in Europe, died with the others and you weren’t sure if you would ever find it, or be whole again.</p><p>“Earth to Ava!” Hank’s rough voice and Connor’s worried eyes dragged you out from your depressing thoughts. You realized that they called out for you several times.</p><p>“Sorry guys, what were you saying?”</p><p>“I said,” Hank started again, and looked at you somewhat worried from the rear mirror. “that I have tried to take care of your apartment. It isn’t tidy, but your plants are alive… sort of.”</p><p>Then again, ha surprised you so much, you could not speak. The apartment-question was the next on your worry-list, as it wasn’t clear whether the apartment you rented was still yours, or the landlord kicked you out, because you haven’t payed the rent for a year. Hank was never good with words, but his actions showed how deeply he cared for you. It was a reminder that after all that happened you did not lose all of your family, and that now you were in debt. “Oh god Hank, I owe you a shit load of money… I will pay back everything!”</p><p>Hank waved you off. “I’d be damned if I would let you do that. You don’t owe me shit kid, I just want you to get your life together. Besides before paying for anything you still need to rest, then come back to work and…”</p><p>“I still have my job?” you asked excitedly.</p><p>“’Course you do kid, don’t be dumb. Fowler may be an idiot but he won’t let you go easily. He knows talent when he sees it.”</p><p>Connor suddenly turned to you, picking up a seemingly very uncomfortable position to look into your eyes.</p><p>“Does that mean that you are working at the DPD too?” he asked. You looked at Hank, but he was avoiding your gaze.</p><p>“Yes, I do.”</p><p>Hank hadn’t talk about you? No one at the station did? Did you make such a big scar on everyone that, when you disappeared, everyone stopped talking about you?</p><p>To add insult to injury those annoying tears started to crawl back to your eyes.</p><p>“Ava went to Europe one year ago, that is why you didn’t meet with her.” Hank explained. ”Hers is the desk in front of Costales’.”</p><p>Connor seemed to digest the information as his led started to flicker in yellow again, and you took this advantage to jump in, before he could say anything. This conversion was awkward enough already.</p><p>“Yeah, anyway, Hank can you drop me off at the DPD? I want to talk to Fowler.”</p><p>As if those words triggered something, Hank suddenly pulled over and turned around, looking at you dead in the eyes. His face gave off concern and uncertainty, from which you immediately knew that he is planning to give a “dad speech”. Connor’s led was flickering red now, but as you wanted to comfort him to not to worry, Hank started:</p><p>“Don’t even think about coming back already, young lady! Not even an hour had passed since you landed, you need to rest and you need to go to therapy to...”</p><p>“Hank!” you interrupted before he could finish the sentence and took a deep breath. To stay calm was the number one priority, otherwise Hank would get even more mad, and no one wanted that. “Please calm down, nothing is decided, I just want to talk to him. And you need to understand that I have rested enough. I need this Hank. I cannot sit at home all day; I would go crazy. Friends and work is all I need now, so please, don’t shout with me.”</p><p>Hank’s expression said that he is torn between letting you do things your own way and forcing you home. You wanted to settle him with the former, but you ran out of arguments, which didn’t give out all the things that happened to you in front of Connor. Fortunately, the boy came to your help.</p><p>“Therapists say, that after traumas, it is the best to get your focus on something that diverts the victim’s attention away of the said trauma.” He said to Hank. “Besides, I am sure that if Fowler will let her come back to work, he will only do it with the agreement that she will see the Department’s therapist regularly, if it is needed.”</p><p>Damn, Connor was good at convincing someone, and he didn’t even know or ask the details. You started to like him very much.</p><p>“And if he makes any offer like this I will accept it!” you jumped in. Hank sighed, defeated.</p><p>“You promise kid?”</p><p>You nodded passionately, as a kid who promised his father to eat the vegetables, if she can play an hour longer. Hank sighed again, and turned into the direction of the DPD. A big smile appeared on your face, which became even bigger, when Connor, your partner in crime, winked at you. The streets and the buildings seemed less foreign now. Especially when the big building of the Detroit Police station turned up on sight. There was a familiar and warm feeling inside your chest when Hank parked the car down and you hopped out. Soon the surprise followed when Hank and Connor got out as well. You looked at the older man, puzzled, and he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“We won’t let you here alone, we will take you home when you are finished.”</p><p>“You were kind enough to pick me up, you don’t need to wait for me. I can walk home; you know it’s not that far away.”</p><p>Hank wanted to make a counter attack, but now, Connor The Betrayer rushed to his help.</p><p>“Obviously we cannot let you do that. We have some things that needs to be taken care of anyways, so it really is not a burden for us.”</p><p>The traitor. You were outnumbered, it was time to retreat so you held up your hand and walked into the building. Connor’s betrayal was soon forgot by the sight that greeted you inside: even though the same androids sat behind the receptionist’s desk, they now had nameplates. A small sign that they got the rights that they should have had a long time ago. You sub-consciously went to the girl you always used to, who now had the nameplate <em>Lydia</em>. She was searching something in her computer but as soon as you put your ID card down in the counter she looked up, and her eyes widened.</p><p>“Ms. Blum!” she gasped and flashed a big and perfect smile at you. “You are back!”</p><p>The fact that she remembered you, even though you knew that androids remembered everything, made you happy. It showed that maybe you had some impact.</p><p>“I see that there were quite a few changes here over the past year.” You said. “It’s good to see that they came to their senses.”</p><p>“And believe it or not, we even got payed.” She checked your ID in, and you were relieved that it was still in the system. “Also it is rather an exception than normal, not many places do that.”</p><p>“Give them time. People can’t change fast.”</p><p>“Maybe you are right.” She opened up the gate, and you bid each other farewell. “It’s good to see you back Ms. Blum.”</p><p>You stepped inside and the nervous ball in your stomach started to grow. You hoped that no one will notice your presence, but every hope, that you could stay in incognito collapsed as soon as you noticed Gavin at the other side of the main hall, almost in front of Fowler’s office. He was talking to an officer and you started to search for a hiding place in panic. Yet, it was too late. He saw you, as your eyes met he stopped talking and his jaw dropped. You gave in to the joy you felt inside and a laugh escaped from your lungs. Gavin literally ran through the room and embraced you in a strong, chocking hug.</p><p>“Please don’t tell me that this is just a dream, please tell me you are really here.” He said weakly, burying his face into your hair. You tried to return the hug, but his arms were around you so strongly that there was no way you could move.</p><p>“Gavin it is virtually impossible for you to have such good dreams. But if you aren’t planning to let me go I might die soon…”</p><p>Gavin giggled and let go of you, but his hands captured your forearm instantly. It felt good and calming to look into his familiar eyes, to feel his support, it also made you remember just how much you missed him every day.</p><p>“When did you come back?” he asked.</p><p>“About an hour ago. I just came in to talk to Fowler… But of course I was planning to contact you!” you added when he flashed his sad, puppy eyes. He wanted to say something, but suddenly his sight shot somewhere behind you and he immediately let go of you, showing his hands in his pockets.</p><p>“Hey Hank.” Gavin’s expression hardened and his voice was ice-cold. You looked back at Hank, questioningly, but neither him, nor Connor said a word as they walked past you. You knew Gavin and Hank did not like each other but this <em>who is the alpha and we don’t greet each other</em> game was new. You looked back at Gavin, who was smiling again, and gave you all of his attention.</p><p>“Fowler is sitting inside his office, but I must warn you that he is in a shitty mood…”</p><p>“Honestly when he isn’t.” you laughed and looked in the direction of the big, glass-walled office. You started bracing yourself for the shouting, and preparing arguments to convince him. You were in for a hell of a ride.</p><p>“It’s good to see some things never change.” You flashed Gavin a warm smile.</p><p>“Yeah… for my taste there were too many changes already.” He looked at Connor’s direction, who was sitting by his desk, in front of Hank’s. “Anyway, while you are in there,“ he poked to Fowler’s office with his head “I will go and fetch Izzy. She will be thrilled that you are back. And also furious for not telling her immediately.”</p><p>“W-what..? Gavin please, no!” it was too late, he was off to get her.</p><p>And the bastard was laughing.</p><p>You cursed him and yourself for being so naïve to think that you can come in without raising attention. Even more, when you walked through the main hall, and every head turned after you. The lost child had finally returned, the mystery around her may uncover now and there will be an answer to every question. Every face showed the same millions of questions, yet no one dared to ask and you wanted to get out of there so badly. You almost ripped down the glass door to Fowler’s office, and in relief you stepped in. Fowler didn’t look up from his computer, up until you started talking to him.</p><p>“Good afternoon Captain.” Although his face remained expressionless, his eyes gave off the surprise he felt.</p><p>“Ava, what the fuck are you doing here?” he was calm yet, but you could feel the storm building up inside him. “I have sent Hank to pick you up AND take you home, not to bring you here. I honestly can’t believe that old bastard cannot do what he is asked and…”</p><p>“Captain please, calm down! It’s not Hank’s fault, I was the one who asked him to take me in, I wanted to talk to you.”</p><p>Fowler took a deep breath, still wasn’t happy, but he tried his best to remain calm. You did not say a single word, instead you waited for him to ask you to speak. It was a back and forth strategy, you analysed each other, trying to suspect the other’s reactions and arguments, playing the whole conversation in head.</p><p>“Okay… what do you wanna talk about, Ava?” his tone was surprisingly calm, yet strict. You built up your courage and picked your words carefully, it was now or never.</p><p>“I would like to come back to work as soon as possible. Honestly, the best would be if I could come back tomorrow.”</p><p>“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” now he was furious. He stood up, but sat back down right away and started massaging his temple. “Ava, I appreciate your enthusiasm, I really do, but you need to rest. After all the shit that has happened, you need to recover, seek help. Only when you are okay can you come back, and even after then I will have some conditions.”</p><p>You wondered whether he built up a strategy with Hank, because he used the same arguments.</p><p>“May I say something in my defense, Captain?”</p><p>“Go on.”</p><p>“I have rested enough in Sosnowiec, where I spent two weeks lying in bed, before I was sent home. I almost went crazy during that time; I can’t imagine what would happen if I must spend months at home. Not only do I want to come back, I <em>need</em> to come back. Consider it as a work therapy, just please, let me do this.”</p><p>He fell quiet, wrinkles appeared on his forehead, showing that you really made him think. Nervousness took over your thoughts, you feared that he will reject you anyway, but you knew you couldn’t give up, there were too much at stake. After a good couple of minutes, he stood up and sat on the top of his table, picking up his superior position. With the strict look on his face he made sure you knew that he was your superior officer and his words were commands.</p><p>“I have a deal Ava. You can come back, even tomorrow, but on three conditions: first, if I see you tired from being jet-lagged, I will send you home instantly; second, you will ask an appointment from the department’s therapist and you will ask weekly sessions; third, for a long time you won’t work with Detective Costales.”</p><p>“But…”</p><p>“YOU” he raised his hand and his voice, cutting off your weak protest “will join Hank and Connor and help them with their cases. Understood?”</p><p>The offer wasn’t as bad as you thought it would be. He didn’t sign you up with some newcomer with boring cases, and while the weekly therapy was inconvenient, it was only a small sacrifice for you to reach your goal.</p><p>“Yes Captain!” now the only thing left was to leave the office as soon as possible, before he could talk about Europe. You forced a smile and slowly started to sidle to the door. “Thank you very much and see you tomorrow then!”</p><p>“Don’t run away.” Your hands stopped on the doorknob.</p><p>Fuck.</p><p>You were too slow.</p><p>“I would like to assure you about my deepest condolence. Your father was a very close friend, and he was a damn good detective back in his days. The department considers him and your mother its own dead and I would like to help organizing the funeral and cover all the expenses. If it’s okay for you, of course.”</p><p>Now that left you dumbfounded. You knew you shouldn’t be surprised, Hank, Fowler and your father were best friends, but still, even you haven’t thought about the funeral, and least expected Fowler would.</p><p>“That is very nice from you Jeff…” only on very rare occasions did he let you call him on his first name, but this was among them. “But there is nothing to bury. I wasn’t able to save the bodies, so I don’t see any point in doing something like that.”</p><p>You had to keep yourself together, seem organised, even though there was a strong urge to cry. Fowler’s expression softened as he walked up to you and put his hand on your shoulder. The pain could be felt through his touch, both the pain he felt for you, and the pain that came from the loss that became too real with your return. It served as a reminder for you, that you didn’t mourn them alone, and you couldn’t be so selfish as to deprive everyone from this chance to be able to show their pain. This funeral was not only for you, but for everyone who was close to your parents.</p><p>“Ava, if you don’t want to do this I can completely understand, but it would be good for you too. You would find peace and acceptance.”</p><p>“You are right Captain.” You gave a quick, awkward pat on his forearm, with a now honest smile. “But I would like to make the preparations. But we will talk about it later, okay?”</p><p>“Okay. Now go home detective, I expect you to be on your best tomorrow.”</p><p>He smiled, which was unusual from him. Without another word you nodded, and left the office. Heading towards Hank’s desk, suddenly a body banged to your back, almost making you fall and two hands grabbed you and forcefully turned you around. The woman standing front of you was crying, and had a very angry look on her face.</p><p>“I can’t believe you came back and didn’t even bother to at least send me a message, letting me know that you are fine. I can’t believe I must know from Gavin.” She said, with boiling anger in her voice, but before you could start to apologize she threw herself in your arms, hugging you almost as strong as Gavin did. “I missed you so much, you asshole…”</p><p>“I missed you too Isabelle.”</p><p>She stepped back, her hands fell next to her side, but clenched them in fists, which meant that she is excited. The tears stopped running, and a happy gleam appeared, a gleam that was always there, and always made you just as happy.</p><p>“Ava you need to tell me everything, we must make up for the lost time and…”</p><p>“There will be a time for that as well, but it is high time I take her home.” Hank interrupted and put his hand on your shoulder. “Ava, you need to rest and don’t even try to protest. “he added when he saw you opening your mouth. Again you felt like a child being scolded, but you obeyed. As Hank dragged you away, you mutely signed Isabelle, that you will write her later, then followed Hank and Connor back to the parking lot.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter three – Making up the lost time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi ^-^<br/>A lil' bit late but here I am with a new chapter :D I hope you will like it. Also, I promise that the first day will end in the next chapter and we will get into the action :D bear with me ^^"</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The three of you hopped into the car, the tension could be sliced with a knife. You were afraid of this car ride to begin with and it was even worse than you thought it would be. On one hand you didn’t know what to say to Connor, or how to start a conversation to lighten up the mood and on the other hand you could feel Hank’s anger. In the end you settled with making Hank happier.</p>
<p>            “Hey Hank, I have good news.” You gently touched his shoulder. He grumbled something, but seemed to be listening to you. “As Connor predicted Fowler gave me an offer, so as you wanted I will go to therapy and… I will work with you and Connor from tomorrow.”</p>
<p>            Both men looked at you surprised, and Hank finally started smiling.</p>
<p>            “Well, the old bastard has some good ideas at least.” He said. “Okay, that’s more like it. It will be just like back in the old days.”</p>
<p>            You smiled with him as the memories came flooding into your mind. You knew Hank since you were a child, and although your father warned you that he isn’t easy to deal with, you always had your ways with him. You always had fun, even though you had many arguments with Gavin, as he and Hank were never fond of each other.</p>
<p>            “How about you Connor?” you asked him, while trying to maintain eye contact, ignoring the fact that it felt like he could see right through to your soul. “I hope you don’t mind if I work with you.”</p>
<p>            In the rear window Connor’s yellow led was visible, as he was thinking for a little while. His hesitation made you feel very uncomfortable, being a burden was among your worst nightmares, moreover you wanted him to like you really bad. He was very close to Hank after all, without being partners, you would have been doomed to spend a lot of time together. After a couple of seconds, which felt like hours, he gave you a soft smile that made you feel warm and calm again.</p>
<p>            “Of course I don’t. It is always a pleasure to get to know someone knew and I have a strong feeling that working with you will be very interesting. I was designed to face and fight off any challenges, and to adapt to human unpredictability.”</p>
<p>            Hank snorted and you could swear he rolled his eyes, maybe he could have heard this statement before? You just lifted one of your eyebrows and gave him an offended look.</p>
<p>            “And what kind of challenge I mean to you exactly? If you don’t mind telling me.” You felt a little bit bad for playing with him, but as his led turned to red and he started to stutter, you couldn’t help but feel that it was worth it.</p>
<p>            “I… I mean the challenge to socialize! I-it’s not you, not like you could… or you couldn’t… I mean…”</p>
<p>            “Oh come on, she is just fucking with you son.” Hank said while laughing. Connor looked back and forth between Hank and you, with a puzzled look on his face until you couldn’t take it anymore and the edges of your mouth curled upwards into a huge grin. After that, his led turned back to a calm blue, and you weren’t sure, but it sounded like as if he chuckled.</p>
<p>“I’m so sorry.” You said, for which he gave you a wink. Your whole face turned red, so to cover it you turned to look out on the window. At that moment Hank turned to the street in which your apartment was, the tall building was clearly visible on sight. Your heart rate sped up from the stress for the thought of being alone all night. At least in Sosnowiec a nurse checked on you every now and then during nights. Now you questioned whether you could go through with the memories, the likely emerging flashbacks, the feeling that you need to run away, all on your own.</p>
<p>The engine stopped and Hank took your hand in his own. He gave you a reassuring squeeze, after which you quickly patted Connor’s shoulder and got out of the car. With the late afternoon came the fairly cold wind, you zipped the jacket up as you turned around to say goodbye.</p>
<p>“Hey kid, don’t you want me to go up with you?” Hank asked, pulling down the window on Connor’s side. “I can stay with you if you don’t want to be alone, your couch looked very comfortable.”</p>
<p>This was an offer you had expected, and felt really good, but you knew that Hank needed to rest just as much as you did. Naturally there was the strong desire in you to accept his offer, but you resisted.</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s sweet from you, but you don’t need to. I will just take a shower and faint into the bad anyway, I had a very long flight.” You lied with a small, hopefully convincing smile. It seemed you did it right because he nodded, the two men waved their goodbyes and drove off. After a short pause, you collected your bravery and stepped inside the building, and went up to your apartment on the 18<sup>th</sup> floor. After stepping in you saw that Hank really did try everything to keep the place tidy, only a couple of your houseplants were missing, you figured that those were the ones that didn’t make it. Right now, however, the poor plants were the last things you wanted to pay attention too. Being home was all to new, you needed to make baby steps, to not freak out, so you set up a <em>to do</em> list in your head. On the first place was to take a shower and change, since you wore these clothes in the past 48 hours. Quickly you wrote a message to Isabelle saying sorry for not talking to her, promising that you will meet up as soon as possible, then you hopped under the hot water.</p>
<p>The shower charged you up a little bit, made you feel clean again, and the pyjamas you put on were very comfy. The clothes you had on when you got home were dumped into the trash, as a painful reminder that needed to be get ridden of. You desperately tried to avoid every thought that wasn’t about the next task on your list, not even thinking of what will happen when bedtime comes. With a towel around your wet hair, and a blanket around your body, you settled on the couch, turned on the TV and set it as loud as possible without disturbing the neighbours.</p>
<p>            The night was still very young, it wasn’t even 8 p.m. and Hank kept the place so tidy, you didn’t have anything to do, which made you happy and grumpy at the same time. Without having anything to do, you have decided to give every attention to the TV and put on your favourite series. Halfway through the first episode your phone started to ring, Isabelle called.</p>
<p>            “How many times do I need to knock for you to let me in?” she raged as soon as you picked it up.</p>
<p>            “Wha…” there were no room to ask anything, she immediately interrupted:</p>
<p>            “Just open the door Ava!”</p>
<p>            Making Isabelle angry was the worst mistake to ever made, so you ran and opened the door. However, instead of shouting, she just gave you a strong hug, which was incredibly calming. You sat back to the sofa, crossed-legged in front of each other.</p>
<p>            “You are watching Brooklyn-99 again?” Isabelle asked, pointing at the TV. “Come on, this show is like ancient, besides you have seen it a thousand times.”</p>
<p>            “Not only is this the best show ever, it’s a classic, so be a little bit respectful and don’t mock it! But never mind that now, what are you doing here? It’s almost 9 p.m.</p>
<p>            “And what are we, 10 to have bed time or something? Did you really think I would let you go so easily? A whole year had passed, I wanted to talk to you and…”</p>
<p>            “Check on me?” you pulled one of your eyebrows up. This was something you were counting with, everybody worrying about you, thinking you can’t bear with everything, even though they have no idea about all the things that happened. You sighed. “Listen Izzy, I love you and I really appreciate that you are worried, but you don’t need to be, I’m fine.”</p>
<p>            “Ava, you were never good at lying to me. Please dear, let me help you, you don’t need to tell me anything, we can just talk about some random bullshit. Didn’t you miss these times we sat here together with wine in our hands and blabbed about random things? If you say yes, I go and fetch some glasses, I have wine in my backpack.”</p>
<p>            “I did.” You smiled and while she got the glasses you looked out of the window. Detroit looked very good in its own way, but at night it was the outmost beauty with the million lights and the buzzing life on the streets. The faint voice of cars, people drunk-singing, shouting and laughing could be heard, sounds that people who lived in this giant city long enough ignored, but which gave you the feeling of being normal right now. Meanwhile Isabelle returned and poured some wine for you. This endless life of Detroit, and her presence could almost have made you forget everything that you went through.</p>
<p>            Almost.</p>
<p>            You wanted to be ready, you really did, yet you weren’t. However, you knew that not only will she understand as she always did, she will help you open up, when the time comes. Her hand slipped into yours and you looked at her, drinking in her image, the silky golden hair, the ocean blue gaze. Without words she knew what were you thinking and gave you a small nod, signalling that it’s okay.</p>
<p>            “How about you telling me everything about what happened in this past year?” you asked her to lighten up the mood. “I have the feeling that it was just as eventful as mine.”</p>
<p>            “Oh Gosh, I thought you would never ask!”</p>
<p>            Isabelle had the ability to tell every story with the richest details, so the listener felt like they were there. Everyone could listen to her for hours, and you yourself weren’t an exception. She started her story with the rising tension last summer, when more and more deviant cases started to emerge, then she told you how Connor got to the precinct, and how he developed such a good relationship with Hank. Lastly she talked about the mostly peaceful android revolution, through which they are almost equal to humans, and the smaller things that happened around the precinct and your friends’ lives.</p>
<p>            “Oh what did I miss.” You said when she ended her story. “At least Androids are finally free. To be honest I would love to meet this Markus guy one day. He really resembles to someone.”</p>
<p>            “Who are you referring to?”</p>
<p>            “’<em>Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?</em>’” </p>
<p>            “Oh come on…” Isabelle laughed, then pulled out her phone. “I want to show you something and ask for your help.”</p>
<p>            She gave you the phone, with a standard application form visible on the screen. A gleeful smile spread across your face as you realised what kind of form is that.</p>
<p>            “You want to become a detective?”</p>
<p>            “Yes!” she laughed out. “I think I have served well and enough to become one. Although these are my long-term plans, with the new stipulations I need to apply with this form, then go through a bunch of exams and inspections but honestly I don’t mind it, I’m looking forward. But I don’t know if I made any mistakes or my motivational letter is good enough, so I figured that before handing it in I ask you to double check it.”</p>
<p>            Humming, you leaned back and carefully read through the form and the attached letter. It took you a good couple of minutes before you started talking, your eyes were still fixed on the screen.</p>
<p>            “There is no mistake in the form, so don’t worry about it. Naturally the letter is the one which usually fails the candidates, but in your case there is no problem with it. It feels honest, yet professional, your handwriting is neat, clean, you are coming straight to the point, keeping it short, which Fowler loves. I think that you are on the way to become a detective. “You smiled and wanted to give the phone back, when a message window popped up. The sudden light attracted your eyes, and you wanted to look away immediately. However, that mere second was enough to see the message that said ‘<em>I’m omw for you baby :*</em>’ and the small picture that belonged to the man who sent it.</p>
<p>            Gavin fucking Reed.</p>
<p>            “Oh Lord help me…” you whispered and closed your eyes. Isabelle quickly fetched her phone and you leaned back, resting your head on the backrest.</p>
<p>            “Ava, please, I can explain!” the panic could be heard from her voice.</p>
<p>            “So you told me everything about the past year, “you opened your eyes and tried not to laugh at the terrified face Isabelle made,” yet you conveniently left out the fact that you are dating with Gavin?!”</p>
<p>            “A-after you disappeared, “she started, but so fast that you needed to concentrate to catch what she is saying, “we were both devastated, didn’t know what to do or how to look for you. Hank completely shut himself away from everyone, but Gavin and I, we were there for each other. We started to spend more time together, comforted each other, helped to not give up the hope but at the same time, we both mourned. Then, three months ago he just suddenly asked me out, and… I said yes. I really don’t have any idea about what happened between us, but not only do I love spending time with him, I have a strong feeling, that I’m in love with him.”</p>
<p>            It was too much to bear, you started laughing from the bottom of your heart. Isabelle gave you a confused look.</p>
<p>            “I never thought that I would ever hear it from a sane person.” You said.</p>
<p>            “So… you are not mad?”</p>
<p>            “Why would I be? Does he treat you well?”</p>
<p>            “Absolutely, like I’m some kind of princess. I never thought I would say this, but he is a real gentleman and ever since we are together, so much kinder with everyone. Well, almost everyone.” You believed Hank and the androids were the exceptions Isabelle referred to.</p>
<p>            “Are you happy, Izzy?”</p>
<p>            “I truly am.” She smiled, with the sweetest smile possible. You hugged her strongly.</p>
<p>            “Then I’m happy for you too. Though I must talk to Gavin tomorrow.”</p>
<p>            “Wh…” she started, but her phone interrupted mid-word. She looked at the screen and her whole face lit up, which gave you the strong feeling that Gavin called. “Hey babe, are you here already?... No, no, she knows… Okay, I’m going down and we will talk about it, now calm down please. See ya.”</p>
<p>            “Uh-oh, someone’s not happy with me knowing?” you mocked.</p>
<p>            “No it’s just… we still keep it as a secret.” It seemed fair, in the precinct, a rumour spread like fire, and you understood why they didn’t want everyone to talk about them, especially that their relationship was so fresh.</p>
<p>            “Don’t worry Izzy, I will carry your secret to my grave.”</p>
<p>            She smiled at you, and gave you a goodbye hug.</p>
<p>            “See you tomorrow?” she asked.</p>
<p>            “Hopefully.”</p>
<p>            You felt a little bit alive again and didn’t think of the rest of the night, which relieved you from a lot of stress. Pressing the play button on the remote control, you hoped that sleep will find you while watching the TV. However, life had other plans, someone knocked on the door again, and you wondered why are you so famous tonight, that even after 11 p.m. people won’t let you be. Slowly you walked to the door and opened it.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I hope you liked it, if so, feel free to comment (even if you did not like it, you can tell me that as well ^^)<br/>Stay safe ya'll &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter four – I want to know you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey ^^<br/>Sorry for being a whole ass day late, work is like hell rn.. because of that I won't be able to post on monday (I work in the catering industry so... pray for me xd) but on Friday. I'm sorry :( :( :(<br/>As for this chapter I finally reached the end of the first day, yey :D (only took me 4 chapters, congrats to me I guess? ^^") anyways, I hope you will like it ^^"</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            <em>An hour earlier – Connor’s POV</em></p>
<p>            Connor was lying on his, bed inside his room, thinking. He always thought that he cannot meet a stranger human than Hank, but Ava was a million times stranger. He saw her on pictures around Hank’s house and tried to run down an analysis, but all of her files were classified and when he tried to do the same after meeting in person, there were still no results. He couldn’t even find her birth date or the name of the schools she attended to, it was like she didn’t even exist. This really bothered Connor, because it was a secret that he, for any reason, couldn’t know, a mission that he couldn’t accomplish and now he didn’t know what to do. His system signalled that his stress-level was rising, so he sat up and wanted to go to take a walk, when he heard the knock on the door. Hank entered and sat down on Connor’s bed, next to him.</p>
<p>            “Hey Con, can I ask you to do me a huge favour?” Hank asked while massaging his own hands. He looked troubled and tired, Connor ran down a quick analysis on him, and found everything in order, only his cortisol-level was a bit higher.</p>
<p>            “Naturally.”</p>
<p>            “Can you go and check on Ava for me, please? I would go myself, but she would throw a whole tantrum saying I need to sleep and whatnot. Isabelle wrote me a message, she went over, but she is leaving soon and I really don’t want her to be alone.”</p>
<p>            “Of course I go! However, may I have a question?” Connor couldn’t keep his curiosity, which surprised him. He needed to know at least a couple of things about her.</p>
<p>            “Go on.”</p>
<p>            “How do you know Ava? I have seen the pictures about you and her, but you never even mentioned her. Why?”</p>
<p>            Hank sighed, and scratched his neck. “Her parents were very close to me, especially her father, he was one of my best friend, a very good man and a damn good detective in his time. I was there when she was born and during the whole time she grew up. When she was little she always called me ‘Uncle Hank’. I never talked about her because it hurt too much. She disappeared one year ago, and I thought I will never see her again.”</p>
<p>            “How did she disappeared and why? What happened to her parents and why no one talked about her?” Connor didn’t know what happened with him, the questions bumped out, without supervision and he had no idea why was he so curious. Ava should have just been another human yet she was all over his thoughts.</p>
<p>            “Hold up son! I think it would be better if she answers your questions when she is ready to do so.”</p>
<p>            Connor’s led switched to yellow as he sank into his thoughts. Too much mystery lingered around this human girl and he needed to uncover all of them. He looked at Hank, who looked very tired, but many wrinkles from his forehead had disappeared and he seemed genuinely happier. Connor stood up ready to leave.</p>
<p>            “Hey, Con!” Hank called out again. Connor turned back looking at him. “Take the car and… thank you very much.”</p>
<p>            Connor smiled at him and if he hadn’t seen Hank smiling back he wouldn’t believe that he could smile so much on a single day. He was thinking the whole road about how this girl changed Hank, she truly was special and he was curious if she is meant to be special to him as well. As he stood in front of her door, ready to find out, he felt a strange feeling in his biocomponents, around his stomach. He analysed it as nervousness, and as he knocked he hoped she wasn’t sleeping.</p>
<p>____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________</p>
<p>            <em>Ava:</em></p>
<p>The last person you would have expected was Connor, yet he stood in front of you, with a gentle smile on his face. You wanted to say something, but you were too dumbfounded to speak.</p>
<p>            “Good evening Ava.” He started when he saw your struggling. “I hope I didn’t wake you up.”</p>
<p>            As he said that he quickly looked you up and down and suddenly you felt the strong urge to put on something. Right now you only had your small, silk pyjamas on, so you folded your arms in front of your chest, hiding your cleavage.</p>
<p>            “No, no, don’t worry about it.” Embarrassment was clearly visible in your voice. “Um, may I ask what are you doing here?”</p>
<p>            “Of course, Hank asked me to come here. He wanted to come himself, as he is really worried about you, but he didn’t want to make you angry.”</p>
<p>            “Son of a…” Connor didn’t seem like he would go away, even if he is asked nicely. Looking up the ceiling, you made the decision to accept your situation without protest, you were afraid of being alone anyway. It was a good chance to get to know him, so you opened the door wide. “Come in.”</p>
<p>            Connor followed you to the living room, and when offered a seat, sat on the couch, to the very same spot where Isabelle sat half an hour ago. As you stared at the man, who looked around in the room, you wondered how did you earn the privilege to welcome so many beautiful people in your home.</p>
<p>            “Hey Connor, can I get you something? Honestly, I don’t have much groceries, so I could only offer some water.”</p>
<p>            “No, thank you, I don’t need anything.” He smiled. Offering him anything was a dumb idea anyway, you realized, as androids didn’t eat nor drink, so you settled down next to him. Connor still took in his surroundings, his back was very straight, a position which didn’t look comfortable to you, but hadn’t bothered him. His gaze slowly settled on you, and his expression changed from neutral to somehow concentrated, as if he wanted to see through you, reading in your mind. You felt your cheeks reddening, and they became hot, so to catch his attention you cleared your throat. “So Connor, are you planning on staying the whole night?”</p>
<p>            “If you feel uncomfortable with my presence I can go home. I didn’t mean to disturb you Ava, but I also owe this much to Hank.”</p>
<p>            “Oh, no Connor, it’s truly fine. I’m not that tired anyway, also I have the strong feeling that Hank wouldn’t just leave me be if you had gone home. So, the night is still young and you are the guest, so what do you wanna do?”</p>
<p>            Connor opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but closed it immediately. There was a troubled expression on his face, and a strange aura started to linger around him as he looked away. Intuitively you put your hand on his back and your eyes widened. As soon as your palm touched his back, waves of shock raced through your body and you were sure he felt the same because his back muscles hardened. This feeling made no sense at all, unless his skin or clothes were electric. However, this seemed a ridiculous idea, so you quickly shook it off and concentrated on why he fell so silent.</p>
<p>            “Is everything alright Connor? I know we barely met, but if we look at it that way, Hank is a link between us, am I right?”</p>
<p>            “A link?”</p>
<p>            The prize for the shittiest and most awkward comforting goes toooo… Ava Blum.</p>
<p>            “Okay, I’m just trying to say that you can trust me.”</p>
<p>            Connor sighed and turned to you with yellow-circling led. You studied his face, eyes, all of it, so pure and so innocent at first glance. As you looked into his warm brown eyes, which felt like staring into the abyss, you felt something that told you, not everything is as it seems. This inexplicable something, like a gut feeling told you that meeting Connor was inevitable and there was no going back now, even if this journey with him will be hard.</p>
<p>            “To be honest,” suddenly Connor started talking, pulling you out of your running thoughts” I have a million questions for you, because I want to know you better. Hank suggested to ask these questions directly from you and considering that all my analysing attempts have failed, due to your data’s were all classified, this method could prove…”</p>
<p>            “Wait a minute, what did you just say? You tried to analyse me?!”</p>
<p>            “Yes.” There was confusion and surprise in his voice because of your strong reaction. “Analysing is a feature, added so I can size up situations easier and with a smaller chance for failure. Cyberlife thought it would make police work more effective.”</p>
<p>            “I’m not doubting that, but why did you try to analyse <em>me</em>, especially when you could have just asked? No one told you that it is rather rude?”</p>
<p>            “Well, Hank said something quite similar. However, asking people is a huge risk, because they look everyone with suspicion and mistrust, and while it is easy to tell when they are lying, it is significantly harder to see when are they holding back information.”</p>
<p>            “Okay, that pretty much sums us up, you are right. Yet still, I want to ask you to try to not analysing everyone.” Connor nodded with bright eyes and you couldn’t help but feel happy. You hadn’t spent a whole day with him, but it seemed impossible to feel down around him. “So, what do you wanna know about me?”</p>
<p>            His eyes gleamed up, giving away that this was the question he was waiting for all along. The interest toward you could be clearly seen and while you didn’t understand what did he found so interesting in you, you certainly felt the same towards him.</p>
<p>            “Everything.”</p>
<p>            He gave you the exact answer you were afraid of. You felt the adrenalin rising in your body, the fight or flight instinct told you to run. This word contained the past year, which everyone wanted to know about, and you were sure he wanted to start with that as well. Only his curious eyes and his encouraging smile hold you back from running away and hiding.</p>
<p>            “I’m truly sorry Connor, but I can’t tell you everything. My data’s were classified for a very good reason, and they will stay like that for The Lord knows how long. What I can talk about is my childhood, my family, and all sorts of uninteresting stuff but that’s all. I hope you can understand.”</p>
<p>            “Ava, I think you very much misunderstood me. I’m not trying to push you to tell me about the thinks you don’t want to. What you said are very much interesting for me, because when I said everything, I meant it.”</p>
<p>            Surprised and touched by his honesty you couldn’t help but laugh. It felt so strange, laughing multiple times on a single day, for a fair amount of time you hadn’t felt or voiced joy at all. To test him you started to tell stories about your childhood, stories which were boring in your opinion, but he listened your words as if you were talking about the most interesting things in the world. He also hasn’t lied when he said he had a million questions, because he asked you about everything, and demanded to know every single detail. Throughout the night you talked about your schools, especially about the Police Training Academy; the holidays you have been; every injury and visit to the hospital. He respected your request so he you only needed to talk very little about your family and he hadn’t asked about the forbidden topic. In exchange you also asked him many questions regarding androids and his relationship with Hank.</p>
<p>            It was so easy and so calming to talk to him because he was a very good listener. You felt like you could have talked with him until dawn, but at some point, without realizing, you fell asleep. The nerve-racking sound of your alarm woke you up and surprisingly you were in your bed. The clock on the bedside table said that you were perfectly on time, but this was not the thing that concerned you at that moment, because there were two more interesting and mysterious matter at hand: how did you get into the bed and why was there the smell of breakfast all over the apartment. To the first question you had a possible and awkward answer, which caused you to forget your pulsating headache, but only Connor could verify or deny it. Concerning the smell, you went out into the kitchen, following it, only to found a plate fully packed with English breakfast and a piece of paper folded next to it. First things first, you picked up a note that was written with beautiful and neat handwriting, and said:</p>
<p>            <em>Ava,</em></p>
<p>
  <em>            Good Morning! I am sorry you woke up being alone, I needed to leave to take the car back to Hank. I made this breakfast for you, please eat it, I cannot imagine when could have been the last time you ate something and your body needs all the nutrient to function properly. Also before leaving I ordered some groceries – not much, but if you want I can go with you to make some further shopping. See you at work!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>            Connor.</em>
</p>
<p>            Two very strong emotions mingled inside you, because on one hand you were very grateful for all the things he had done for you, but on the other hand you were ashamed for the same things. It was very hard for you to ask or accept help from others, but eventually your belly, which gave a deep, growling sound for the smell of the food, decided to accept this kindness. While you stuffed the breakfast into your mouth, that surprisingly was the most delicious English breakfast you have ever had, you read Connor’s note multiple times. Analysed his handwriting, his sophisticated choice of words, the space between the lines, everything. Every single detail was perfect.</p>
<p>            As you finished the breakfast you heard the phone ringing. The screen showed Hank’s name and number.</p>
<p>            “Good morning!” you greeted him delightfully.</p>
<p>            “Wow kid, you sound especially happy.”</p>
<p>            He was right, you felt really good at the moment. Maybe it was the fact that you were home, or the daylight or… something else.</p>
<p>            “Is everything alright?” it was a weak try from you to divert the subject. “You only call me in the morning when I’m late, but I still have plenty of time.”</p>
<p>            “Connor and I are your new partners, remember? I’m calling you because there was a homicide, so we are going to pick you up. Be ready in ten.”</p>
<p>            “Got it boss! Bye-bye.”</p>
<p>            And finally, back on the field. As much as you were sad for the poor soul who got murdered, you couldn’t help but feel the thrill of the new case. This put you back into the game and made you feel alive. After dressing up, you went down and saw Hank’s car parking in front of the building already.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Popping up again because I can never shut up :D<br/>Hope you liked it, leave a comment if you have questions, or criticism, or just want me to shut up :D (jk, I can't) but most importantly stay safe &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter five – The first case</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay, so it isn't friday, right?<br/>Sorry about that :( I think the plan I worked up completely turned upside down soooo... I try to maintain a weekly update, and hope that life won't interfere as much as it did in the last two weeks (basically like *knock knock* "who's there?" "LIFE BITCH") I love y'all and sorry &lt;3<br/>I hope you will like this chapter, feel free to leave a comment :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>            A strange feeling started to get over your body, a feeling you hadn’t feel since g-d knows how long. You were full with energy and wanted to hug the whole world, which seemed brighter now, somehow. You recognised that you were close to being happy at that moment, and the sadness that always lingered in you, was pressed to the very back of your mind. Even if this was only for a short time, it felt great to feel more than complete apathy.</p><p>            “Good morning boys!” while you hopped into the car, you gave a quick kiss on Hank’s cheek. “What do we got?”</p><p>            Both Hank and Connor turned in their seats to look at you, with some kind of terror and confusion in their eyes, as if you were crazy. Innocently, you blinked at them fast.</p><p>            “What the fuck had gotten into you Ava?” Hank asked, then turned to Connor. “What have you done?”</p><p>            Before Connor could have said anything, you interfered: “Oh come on, I’m just glad that I’m here. Let a girl having a good time, okay?”</p><p>            It wasn’t a lie, but you couldn’t give a full explanation on exactly why were you so joyful. Maybe it was truly the environment of your home, or the fact that since a very long time, it was the first time you hadn’t go to bed and woke up with the same, haunting memories and thoughts. Or maybe that you were back in work, anyhow, feeling slightly better was new for you. Hank and Connor looked at each other and while the latter shrugged his shoulders, Hank sighed and started to drive. As much as he tried to pretend that he is annoyed, you could see his smile in the rear view mirror.</p><p>            “Fill her in Con.”</p><p>            “The victim is 36 years-old Timothy Burkhart, an accountant with no criminal records. When he failed to show up at work his girlfriend, Sarah Jane Parker, went to check on him, and found him dead. She wasn’t able to give any testimony, she was in shock and brought to the hospital, but they will be brought in on the afternoon.”</p><p>            “Poor girl, I can understand her feelings.” You mumbled to yourself, while tried to stay in the surface, not drowning in the sudden rising sadness. Instead, you tried to concentrate on the case. “He must have been a very punctual and neat guy if only after one day of being late they search for him immediately.”</p><p>            Soon, you reached the crime scene: a smaller, but certainly expensive apartment complex in the better half of Detroit, near the downtown. It was only ten floor high, and the victim’s home was on the fourth’s. After getting out of the elevator – because Hank said that that high, he won’t climb up the stairs – you saw that a couple of officers already questioned the neighbours, while inside the flat, more collected the evidences and took pictures of them. Looking around in the apartment, you sized up your environment: the scene was surprisingly clean and in order, the living room, you were standing in was filled with expensive furniture. There was seemingly no sign of a struggle, the only odd thing out was the dead body, laying in a big pool of blood, not far from the open window, in front of the couch.</p><p>            Connor went to examine the evidences, while Hank talked to the officers, who questioned the neighbours, so yours was the body. While you tried to understand the scene, the placing of the body, the open window, Isabelle stepped next to you, with gleaming eyes. You raised one of your eyebrows, but a small smile had spread on your face.</p><p>            “You certainly seem happier, than our guy over there.” You looked over to the body, that was surrounded by cops and the medical expert, you knew pretty well. Fortunately, he didn’t spot you yet, however it was just a matter of time.</p><p>            “Don’t be so grotesque Ava, a man died here. Show some respect!” although she hissed you off, she couldn’t hold back her giggle. She was somewhat right, also she mixed up you being grotesque with being numb for death. It was something that you were all too familiar with. The first homicide case that was assigned to you two years’ prior left some huge scars on you and at that time you even wanted to give up. Being stubborn saved you from quitting because you knew that you will harden, although you hoped to do it without life’s interference.</p><p>            At that moment the medical expert looked up and saw you, his eyes widened. First day’s charm, you guessed and knew that many more similar encounter will happen once you got back to the precinct. With a tired, low groan, you crouched down next to him, followed by Isabelle to examine the body.</p><p>            “Nice to see you too, Daniel.” You answered to the unspoken greeting.</p><p>            “I had no idea you were back.” He stated almost whispering, and ignoring what you just said. This was the sentence you were bound to hear a thousand times in the following week, you thought.</p><p>            “I guess you are not alone with it.” He tried to catch your sight with his, but avoiding it you inspected the body. On his chest there was a significantly large stain of blood, implying the presence of the wound underneath his clothes and he was lying in a much larger pool of his blood. “What do we got here?”</p><p>            Daniel’s eyes were still fixed on you in disbelief, but he cleared his throat and put on his professional look while explaining his hypothesis:</p><p>            “The victim has almost immediately died from a single gunshot, which was kind of surprising, not every day do I see such clean and deadly shots. My strong guess is that the bullet was sent through his heart and also I think that, considering he didn’t move after falling back, he blacked out and very soon died. “Daniel opened up the victim’s shirt, showing you the entry hole. “I know this hole is pretty standard, but I think looking at the exit hole worth a shot.”</p><p>            He gestured toward you and Isabelle, and you helped him turned the stiff body. To examine the said exit hole, you leaned closer, but from the corner of your eyes you saw Connor approaching. You expected him to interfere, quickly scanning the area, maybe coming up with every solution, but instead he just crouched in front of you. Without a single word he watched you with interest, which somehow made you slightly nervous, you had no idea why.</p><p>            “What do you see that is so concerning?” Connor asked.</p><p>            “Why do you think I’m concerned?”</p><p>            “You frowned.” He stated simply, then seemingly subconsciously reached out and caressed your forehead with his thumb, as if he tried to make the wrinkles disappear. Realizing what he had done and seeing the shocked look on Isabelle and your face, his led changed to yellow and he quickly fixed his tie. “I-I just noticed that you are taking up this look when you see, remember or say something that disturbs you.”</p><p>            Still taken aback, you had no idea what to say, so you stood up, followed by Isabelle and Connor, while Daniel further examined the body. You tried to recollect your thoughts, and concentrated on the investigation at hand.</p><p>            “Around when did he die?” you asked Daniel.</p><p>            “Oh well, given his liver-temperature and the fact that rigor mortis has set in already, I would say somewhere between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., although naturally I will know more about this and the cause of death after the autopsy.”</p><p>            “When can you perform that?”</p><p>            “I have no idea Ava, this isn’t my only case, so it could take a couple of days, maybe a week or so. You know I will call you as soon as I’m ready.”</p><p>            “Okay Dan, thanks.”</p><p>            With Connor and Isabelle up in your heels, you took a few steps away to the open window and looked out. The next apartment complex was only a short distance away, separated by a five feet wide alley, which was close enough for a steady armed shooter.</p><p>            “What are you thinking about?” Asked Isabelle and glanced out as well. You had the bad habit to go into full lone wolf mode as soon as you started working on a case, your now ex-partner always complained about that too.</p><p>            “Was this window open when the first responders got here, or they opened it?” Another habit was to answer a question with another one.</p><p>            “Yes it was open. But we are on the fourth floor, it’s too high for someone to climb in and there are no signs of a forced entry or anyone’s presence, beside the victim. Also, the neighbours said they couldn’t see any movement after Timothy got home, and believe, there are some lady, who would have seen if someone came up.”</p><p>            Humming, you looked out again, then turned to Connor, who was observing you with his baffling, dark eyes:</p><p>            “Connor, am I right to think that the weapon was a 357. Calibre?”</p><p>            “Exactly, most likely a semi-automatic pistol, which is a very common and famous type.”</p><p>            Sinking back into your thoughts you almost had the whole scenario in your head. What you were still lacking was the motivation, but right now it didn’t really matter. First thing was to present your hypothesis to the others and find enough evidence for it to stand. You called Hank over, who was talking with a couple of officers, overlooking the evidence, but he raised his head as you invited him, and joined your trio.</p><p>            “Okay so I have an idea about what might have happened here.” You started, and Hank gestured for you to continue. “I think that the victim was shot down from that building at the opposite side of the alley, I would say that most likely from the apartment on the same level as this, with a 357. Calibre pistol.”</p><p>            Hank was taken aback from the sudden burst of information you gave him, and asked: “Whoa there kid, isn’t it a bit too much at first? There are many holes in this story to begin with. Tell me, how did you come up with all this?”</p><p>            Convincing Hank was never an easy quest, he always played devil’s lawyer to point out your mistakes or when your hypothesis was too rough. However, you were all in for this.</p><p>            “Just think about it. The victim comes home, opens the window, maybe he liked to get some fresh air and wasn’t bothered by the cold. The shooter, probably waiting for him already, sees the opportunity as the guy walks around and BANG.” You formed a pistol with your fingers and pretended to shoot Hank, who grimaced. “From that distance a steady shot is possible even with a pistol, which can be hid away to not to raise attention. Everything leads us here Hank.”</p><p>            “Okay, I admit that you are right, but still, to shoot him through the heart he must have been standing in front of the window, without moving, or the shooter was the fucking terminator.” Hank clapped back, convinced that he found a crack on your story.</p><p>            “Maybe the shooter caught his attention, and he stopped to see what is happening.”</p><p>            Hank nervously scratched his neck, he was out of words. Connor, who silently watched your battle until now, stepped forward.</p><p>            “Ava could be right.” He said. “I quickly ran an analysis and from the angle and the size of the damage I learned that the victim was shot from a fairly far distance. It very well could be that building Ava was pointing at, but I think we should investigate further to confirm all these.”</p><p>            “Hey Izzy.” Hank turned to Isabelle, outnumbered and defeated. “Can you go and check these two idiots’ idea? Bring a couple of people with you, okay?”</p><p>            “Yes Lieutenant!”</p><p>            “And you two.” He turned back to Connor and you. The fact, that he put on his strict, officer voice gave away that he was annoyed with you, and wanted to take back the control. “Go back to the precinct. The victim’s girlfriend is there to give a testimony, maybe she is ready now. When the first responders got here she was in such a state of shock she wasn’t able to say anything. I stay here and go through the evidence with the others.”</p><p>            Both Conor and you nodded and went to catch a cab. Now, that you were alone it was time to question him about the breakfast he made, but you waited until the taxi have arrived, and after getting in, turned to Connor:</p><p>            “Hey Con…”</p><p>            “Yes?” His eyes were curious. Talking with him was strange, he payed close attention to everything you said, and seem very interested.</p><p>            “You shouldn’t have made breakfast for me today. I mean, I am grateful and it was delicious, but it was too kind from you and simply you just… so you don’t need to serve me.”</p><p>            Connor’s eyes widened for a moment, then he chuckled from the bottom of his heart. Your cheeks slowly turned red, and you wished you could just sink into a deep hole.</p><p>            “No Ava, I didn’t serve you. It was very clear for me that days had passed since you ate something nutritious and I meant this breakfast as a simple act of kindness. I thought humans liked these kind of acts, so I tried it out. I’m trying to adapt and learn about human behaviour.”</p><p>            “Oh please, don’t misunderstand me! I loved it, I really did! It’s just…”</p><p>            “It’s hard for you to accept help from others, am I right?” you couldn’t look into his eyes anymore. It was as if he could see through you and not with his scans and whatnot, but with his heart. In the end, glaring at the floor you just nodded, and he continued: “Don’t worry about it. I would be happy to adapt with you.”</p><p>            His words struck right through your heart and your gazes connected, while a smile had spread on his face. First, since a very long time, you felt alive again, Connor was genuine and kind, things that you thought left the earth a long time ago. Even when the car stopped in front of the precinct, he jumped out and offered his hand to help you get out as well. Naturally, you accepted the offer, and your hand slowly conjoined with his. Connor’s led turned to yellow, and as your heart rate started to increase you took your hand back and moved to walk inside.</p><p>            “What is the name of the girl?” You asked</p><p>            “Sarah Jane Parker. She just left the hospital, I don’t know if she will be able to give us proper answers.”</p><p>            Now that was something you could understand. Sarah Jane waited for you beside your desk, her face was numb and pale, she hugged herself and stared into nothing. The pain and disbelief could be felt far before reaching her and even though you knew what it was like to be in her shoes, you needed to stay unbiased. A case couldn’t ruin your better judgment, especially now that you were basically on probation.</p><p>            “Good afternoon Miss Parker.” You greeted her, and sat down to your chair, while Connor nodded and sat on the table. “I’m detective Ava Blum and this is my partner, Connor. We would like you to give us a testimony, regarding the case of your partner, Timothy Burkhart. Would you be able to do that?”</p><p>            She looked at you, then Connor, as if she didn’t see you sitting down a minute ago. Her eyes filled with tears, you guessed she lingered between realization and denial.</p><p>            “He is really gone, right?” She asked in a shaky voice. “It’s not just some bad prank? He is really dead?”</p><p>            “I’m afraid so. But we aim to find who killed him, so can you please recall how did you find him this morning?”</p><p>            She wiped her tears off and took a deep breath before she started: “Yesterday she went out with a couple of his friends to drink something. He met these guys a couple of weeks ago and they became pretty good friends. He went out with them every week, but never drank much and always got home early, because he was very passionate about his job. He was a typical perfectionist, but I loved him for it. Tim also sent me a message around 10:30 p.m. when he got home, he always did that so I didn’t worry all night long. But this morning he didn’t show up for work. One of his best friend, James Stuart, who is also his co-worker called me after he couldn’t reach him, and asked me to check if Tim is okay. But when I got there he was… he was already…” she started crying and sobbing very hard, so you offered her some tissues from your table.</p><p>            “It’s okay Miss Parker, we know the rest. Do you, or Mr. Stuart knows who these new friends are? Any names perhaps?”</p><p>            “No, unfortunately. Tim wanted to introduce us, but we never had the chance.”</p><p>            “I see. And could there be anyone, who may have wanted to hurt him?”</p><p>            “No, everybody loved Timmy! He is… was kind and helpful, been there for everyone. I have no idea who could… we were planning our engagement and to start a family… I just can’t believe…”</p><p>            Her sobbing quenched the rest and as you wanted to comfort her, your phone started buzzing. You gestured Connor to take your place, excused yourself and walked a bit further.</p><p>            “Damn you and your gut feelings!” Hank groaned as soon as you picked up. “You were right, the flat that looked at our victim’s was not only uninhabited, but there were signs of a break in. We checked the security cameras, which showed a fucking suspicious man walking in. Naturally he wore a big hat so we couldn’t see his face. The guys are searching the apartment now, but as much as I have seen he didn’t leave any track behind.”</p><p>            “So our guy is smart and isn’t some beginner, which is sucks. We talked to the girlfriend, but she couldn’t provide any useful information. She said that the victim gained some new friends, but neither him, nor the victim’s co-worker-best friend knew them, which I think is quite strange. So currently it seems we are stuck.”</p><p>            “We are. Maybe the autopsy, ballistics or lab results will provide something, but until then, we have nothing to go on.”</p><p>            “Okay then, I make the report for Fowler and we are done for today.”</p><p>            It was 2 p.m. already. Since Connor escorted Sarah Jane out and Hank took care of the scene the only thing left for you was to get the good old paperwork done. For this however, you needed coffee. As you walked to the break room, you felt the glares on your back, just like yesterday, but still, no one dared to approach or ask any questions yet. Shame, because you might have even answered. Although, you were sure that enough rumours were spreading already and knew that people didn’t like to ruin the castle of cards they build up by learning the truth. The glares, you were bound to get until you come out with the truth were nothing you couldn’t bear.</p><p>            The TV was on in the break room, showing the news that talked about the raging and spreading war in Europe and the actions of the slowly continent wide ruling Peace and Freedom Party, aka PFP. Only the mention of the name turned your stomach and you felt the urge to throw your mug at the screen. To avoid your thoughts, you fully concentrated on the hard process of making coffee, until someone tapped on your shoulder.</p><p>            “Why is it, that I am always the last one to know about what’s happening around here?!” The familiar voice said and you immediately turned around.</p><p>            “Emilio!” You jumped into your ex/future partner’s arms, wrapping yours around his neck. Laughing, he picked you up and spun around, even when he put you down, he didn’t let go of you.</p><p>            “Is it too much to ask for a text when you suddenly and mysteriously return?” he asked and buried his face into the valley between your neck and shoulder. “It feels so good that you are back. Even though you cannot work with me and I’m stuck with Reed, at least I have you around.”</p><p>            “Oh Lord, I’m so sorry.” For him to be partnered up with Gavin was the worst nightmare, they were never fond of each other. You got his hand and dragged to sit down with you. “Turn that shit off and let’s talk a little bit. I have missed you so much!”</p><p>            For a good hour you talked about his life, his failed dates and funny stories, carefully avoiding your topic. He often stroked your hand, hair or face, a thing that for you, showed his deep, brother-like love he felt. After an hour, you decided to go back to work, but promised each other, that as soon as you have time, you will sit down to have a beer together.</p><p>            Meanwhile Hank got back and helped you with the report. With his help, you collected the main points, needed to be written down into a notebook, and got started. This was the only part of the job, which you weren’t looking forward to, monotonous and boring, but couldn’t be avoided, because Fowler always required to know where exactly an investigation was at. Naturally, staring at your screen and typing through the whole afternoon was tiring. At least no one wanted to bother you, only your closest circle said goodbye to you when they departed home. Only Hank wanted to wait for you, to take you home, but after a small debate you were able to send him away. By the time you finished with the report it was sunset. After sending the report, you made your way out, into the parking lot. However, when you got out, you found Connor, leaning to Hank’s car, waving to you. He changed his clothes, usually he wore jeans, a grey jacket and white shirt, but now, he had black jeans and shirt. Even his tie was missing, but the top two button on his shirt were left open.</p><p>            “What are you doing here, Con?” You asked, picking up your jaw from the ground.</p><p>            “I would like to take you home. I know,” he raised his hand when you wanted to interfere, so your words stuck midway, “that you can walk, but I was heading there anyway. It’s not a burden at all.”</p><p>            With a sigh, you climbed into the passengers’ seat, your mind was still fixed on the last thing he said: “You were heading to my home? Why?”</p><p>            You could swear that his face took up a slight blue colour, but the shadows made it so hard to see, that you couldn’t really tell whether you see it right.</p><p>            “Well, I thought that we could talk again. I had a really great time with you last night and I am far from knowing you. Although I learned a lot about your past, your current self is still a mystery to me. I would love to uncover it.”</p><p>            Not only what he said was sweet, you honestly loved the idea of talking with him all night long again. You smiled and turned to him.</p><p>            “I’m in! What do you want to talk about tonight?”</p><p>            He parked the car in front of your building and flashed a big smile for you. Your heart threw a somersault as you looked into his deep brown eyes. He stopped the engine.</p><p>            “Anything and everything.”</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter six - The Therapy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hiya~<br/>I'm finally ready, I'm sorry it took me for so long again, I have a lot going on (just as usual tho, if I disappear I'm not dead, just don't have a bit of free time :( )<br/>I hope you will like it, let m know in the comments if you have any questions, critique or you just liked it, and wanna show some love :D I always appreciate it ^^<br/>Love y'all, stay safe ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The man, whose face was painfully familiar, was standing in front of you, with his gun aimed to your chest. There was a wolfish and evil grin on his face, somewhat satisfied, it was the most disgusting thing you ever saw. Adrenaline rushed through your veins, and your body desperately tried to move you to run, scream and fight, anything but give up easily. However, your mind knew that you were fucked and this was the end of the road, as he excitedly licked his lower lip.</p>
<p>            “Look at the poor girl.” He whispered, which sent shivers down your spine. “You didn’t actually believe, that I would give up on you, did you? Naïve little thing, no one ever got away from me and I can’t let you be the first one, right? I have a reputation to uphold.” The man started to approach you, but you couldn’t back away, your body was freeze in place. “But don’t worry sweetheart, you still have a looong time, before I’m done with you.”</p>
<p>            As if he had control over your mind, pictures started flashing before your eyes. That was the last straw, your knees gave in and you started screaming. The pictures slowly became unbearable when you heard a familiar voice in your head, calling out to you…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            “Ava! Ava wake up!”</p>
<p>            The dream was cut there and you jolted up into sitting position. Sweat covered your whole body and you were panting, with no idea about your exact location in the pitch dark. After a moment, when your eyes got used to the dark, you noticed Connor sitting on the side of the bed and, still dizzy, you reflexively clung into his shirt. Although he was taken aback for a moment, he started to stroke your back, which made your breathing slow down and you coming to your senses. After a couple of minutes had passed in complete silence, you realized that you were still holding his shirt and rested your head on his shoulder. Quickly, you backed to the headboard, and cleared your throat, watching Connor’s yellow circling led.</p>
<p>            “I’m sorry I startled you Con.” You couldn’t look into his eyes, and hoped that he wouldn’t notice that in the dark.</p>
<p>            “There is nothing you should worry about, I was just worried, because I thought someone attacked you. However, you were asleep while talking and screaming. Why was that?”</p>
<p>            “I was just… having a nightmare… I guess.”</p>
<p>            Separating reality from dream was still a bit challenging, so you waited until your dizziness disappeared, with a very patient Connor. The clock on the night table said it was barely 6 a.m., too early to go to work, but you knew sleeping would be impossible now. Trying to think of something to do, the picture of your empty fridge came to your mind. Grocery shopping was a need and you had some free time anyway.</p>
<p>            “I won’t be able to sleep anymore, so do you want to come shopping with me? I think I don’t need to introduce you to my empty fridge so I thought we could link pleasant with the useful, what do you think?”</p>
<p>            “I would be really glad to accompany you.” After a nod you sent him out and quickly changed into some everyday clothes. After you finished you joined Connor in the living room. “You look really good Ava.” He complemented, which shocked you, because none of your clothes were particularly special, just normal jeans, jacket and shirt. Your shock couldn’t live up for long, as Connor opened up the door for you to get going. The nearest shop was so close that there was no point in going by car, so you finally had a chance to have a good walk. Walking next to him made you want to ask the question that bothered you since the first night he spent at your place. Although you needed to build some strength to ask him, the silence started to became too nerving for you, so you went all in.</p>
<p>            “Um Con, can I ask you one thing? How did I get into bed last night and… the night before? On my own, right? Because my last memory from every night is that we are on the couch, yet I always get up in the bed, so I really hope that at some point I’m going there half-asleep.”</p>
<p>            Connor looked at you with a hint of surprise in his eyes. In his voice there was a tone, that told you, the answer should be obvious, but seemingly he was having fun and was proud of himself.</p>
<p>            “No, on both occasions,  I carried you to bed. Comparing the two, your bed seems more comfortable and warm, so I thought it would be better for you to sleep there.”</p>
<p>            Naturally, you got the answer you were afraid of. Although you tried to picture yourself in his arms, as he carried you, it proved to be impossible and left you with a very uneasy feeling. All of the blood left your face, and you couldn’t guess how pale you must have got, but it certainly scared Connor, who, with a very concerned expression, stopped you by gently grabbing your forearm.</p>
<p>            “Are you feeling unwell Ava?” he asked and grabbed your other forearm as well, as if he was afraid that you would faint. “Your heart rate, along with your pulse has significantly increased, and they are high above the normal rate. If this walk took too much out of you I can call a Taxi for us.”</p>
<p>            “Wow, chill Baymax, I’m fine!” although his concern made your heart warmer, you instantly put both of your hands up in defense. “The store is up ahead, and I’m not even tired at all. Now come on!”</p>
<p>            Doing some grocery shopping with Connor was more fun than you imagined it would be. He was better than any eating consultant, didn’t let you go off to the unhealthy goods, but guided you to the rows in which the commodities were healthy and nutritious. Mostly you followed him, as he put many things in your cart, until you reached the section with the snacks. Snacks were the only things where you knew no contradictions. Connor’s eyes widened as he saw you putting two bags of onion and sour cream chips and three bars of chocolate, in the cart full of healthy food.</p>
<p>            “I don’t want to push you, but I think a couple of apples, and some home-made beetroot chips would be much better for you.” He said as his deep brown puppy eyes were fixed on your snacks. “These contain excessive amount of salt, fat and…”</p>
<p>            “But these are tasty!” you protested, pouting. He blinked in confusion a couple of times, from your sudden child-like behaviour, then tried to argue again, but you didn’t let him. “Tassssstyyyyyyy.”</p>
<p>            Connor finally chuckled and let go of the topic. It seemed like he learned by now that you are just as stubborn as Hank. The rest of the shopping was kind of uneventful, and Connor, being the gentleman he is, helped you carry all the bags to your home, which meant that he didn’t give you even one, instead he carried all of them. While you couldn’t convince him to let you help, you won the fight over who should make the breakfast. It was really hard to win against him, because he insisted doing the cooking, but after you successfully convinced him the rest of the morning was normal. You had breakfast together, without him eating anything, then you picked up Hank and went to work.</p>
<p>            The rest of the day and two following days had passed uneventful. There were no new cases, or any lead for your current one, the only thing you could do was take up some completely useless testimony, talking about how great of a guy Mr. Burkhardt was, and doing a hell lot of paperwork. Slowly the days started to felt normal, you were surrounded by your friends, having talking all day with Isabelle, Gavin and Emilio, even had some small talk with the android girl, Lydia and some of your other colleagues. During the nights you had never ending conversations with Connor, who built up a habit of bringing you home and then spending a night talking with you. With Connor watching over you, both Hank and you could sleep easy at nights. Also, your depression seemed to ease a bit, through the help of your friends. Naturally you still cried occasionally, had nightmares and flashbacks, but the need to jump down from a roof, or shoot yourself through the head decreased. There were some new goals in your life beside vengeance and they gave you meaning as well.</p>
<p>            It was Friday already, which meant the end of the week, the start of the party or rest filled weekends – at least for people with everyday jobs, and normal life. For you it only meant the start of your weekly therapy sessions. Fowler conveniently cheated you by telling you the appointment the day before, thus you couldn’t procrastinate or come up with an excuse. Since you couldn’t back up, you decided to, at least, return to one of your old habits, for which you were very passionate about, and took out your motorcycle. It was a beautiful, deep blue Suzuki GSX-R3000X, the successor of the GSX-R1000R. After carefully wiping off the dirt the subsided through the year, you put on your helmet and checked if it still worked. The engine gave a loud, long grumble, then took on its normal growling that made you feel calm and organised. It was the last sign for you to get on and out to the street.</p>
<p>            The wind grabbed your hair and clothes as you slalomed through the lines of cars which made you laugh. The therapist assigned to you, a ‘nice, understanding woman and a dear friend of mine’ as Fowler explained, had her office almost the other end of the city, so you had quite a nice and long ride there. On the road you tasted every beloved places you haven’t seen in a long time, trying to concentrate only on the good memories. However, with your ride you were faster than expected, and soon were nervously knocking on her door. A smiling, 40-ish woman opened the door, and immediately offered her hand to you, which you hesitantly, but shook.</p>
<p>            “Good morning Miss Blum, I was waiting for you.” She greeted you in her soothing soprano voice. “My name is Doctor Margret Jones, but please, feel free to call me Margret. Come in.”</p>
<p>            To answer her politeness, you mumbled her to call you Ava, while following her into the small office. The small space was tastefully decorated, with two seemingly comfy couch that made you wonder that why every therapist needed to have one or more couches. Apart from them there were a couple of bookshelves with many books and a table with a laptop and a huge pile of papers. Margret motioned you to take a seat, so you sat down on the couch, closer to the door, thus the exit route was open for you, while Margret sat down in front of you. She picked up a folder and for a good couple of minutes she read through your files, as if she didn’t do that before you met, then flashed you a bright, reassuring smile.</p>
<p>            “Okay Ava, I tell you what I planned for us first. Captain Fowler told me a little bit about you, where you were and so on, and he also told me that you refuse to talk about it, is it true?”</p>
<p>            “Yes.”</p>
<p>            “Now, I know you didn’t want to come here, Honestly, 99 percent of my patients hate their first sessions and are forced to come here after traumatizing events. However, what you need to know is that I won’t force you into telling me anything. I would like to build up a diagnose on this session, one which we can work with in the future and for this I only need you to tell me how are you feeling since you got back. Is it okay for you?”</p>
<p>            After giving it some thought, you nodded, so far this session was much better than you have expected. Although this solution meant that you needed to be extremely open about your current feelings, you were willing to do that.</p>
<p>            “You must have been through a lot, this much I can tell.” Margret continued, her voice was barely more than a whisper. “The question is how much had stayed with you. Because if someone goes through a chain of traumatic events, their memories tend to fade, and many of the traumas are sealed away by the brain in order to protect the person. Did you experience any kind of amnesia, or lack of memories?”</p>
<p>            “No, nothing like that.” You answered softly, and felt your throat being blocked.” Actually it’s quite the opposite, everything is here as if they all happened in yesterday. I can’t forget them, the nightmares, the flashbacks, they just won’t let me be.”</p>
<p>            “What kind of flashbacks are these?”</p>
<p>            “Sometimes they are just pictures, other times they are like dreams, long and real, as if some kind of punishment for me to relive everything. On those occasions I try to change things, lifting the curse and help the ones I love, but I just can’t, even though I know what will happen I’m forced to do everything the same.”</p>
<p>            At this point, pushing out the words took out a great amount of strength and were very hard to do. Margret, being a great therapist, quickly noticed it, and her expression softened.</p>
<p>            “I’m sorry, I know that for the first time talking about these type of things could be really hard, and I promise I won’t push you too much. I have to ask, however, did you notice anything specific that could trigger these pictures and hallucinations?”</p>
<p>            “To be honest, I haven’t pay much attention, as much as I was concerned with it, they came randomly.”</p>
<p>            Naturally, you were aware that there needed to be some kind of triggers, but never mind how hard you tried to remember for even one, you couldn’t come up with anything.</p>
<p>            “How about gunshots?” Margret asked suddenly, and you knew this was a protocol question for veterans. “How strong are you reacting to the sound of gunshots or anything that resembles to them?”</p>
<p>            “I can easily say that I have almost the same reaction as every cop in the U.S. Maybe just a bit stronger, but no hallucinations when I hear them, only my reflexes are at ‘gunpoint’.”</p>
<p>            Her mouth opened as if she wanted to say something, but the sudden buzzing of your phone stopped the words midway. With a sigh you noted that this damned phone interrupts everyone, excused yourself and picked up the call of an unknown number.</p>
<p>            “Hello Ava!” the man’s soft, familiar voice greeted you. “It’s Connor. I’m sorry, I know my call interrupted your session, but Hank asked me to notify you that we have a homicide. Also, he asks if you want us to pick you up.”</p>
<p>            The sudden change in topic, from very emotional to work caught you off guard for a minute, but you pulled yourself together quickly. “No thank you, I have my own vehicle, just send me the address and I will be there quickly.”</p>
<p>            “Okay, I’m sending it right away, and see you soon then. Take care of yourself, okay?”</p>
<p>            His last wish made you chuckle as you ended the call, then turned to Margret to apologise.</p>
<p>            “I’m truly sorry Doc, but I must cut this session short, because I have to get back to work sooner than expected.”</p>
<p>            For a couple of seconds, Margret sank into her thoughts, which made you really nervous. Both of you knew that if she had decided that you are not capable for work, Fowler will take your badge away and won’t give you back for quite a long time. After a couple of seconds, which seemed like hours, she finally looked you in the eyes and started talking.</p>
<p>            “To be completely honest with you, one part in me would like to say that you should stay away from work and heal for an undetermined amount of time, until you are healed, or at least better. Before we met and I had the chance to know a bit more about your situation I was even planning to send you on a leave. However, now I understand why Fowler insisted that you are under careful supervision and working is actually good for you. So, my advice is, that you can continue working, but you need to come meet with me every Friday, only with a very strong excuse can be absent from even one.”</p>
<p>            “Okay Doc. And… may I ask the diagnose?”</p>
<p>            Margret looked surprised for a moment. “You look pretty aware of your own condition, but sure, I can confirm everything to you. You have a strong and highly-developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, along with severe anxiety and depression, so we have a lot to do in the future.”</p>
<p>            She was right, you suspected everything, but hearing it all was still a bit strange. You nodded in sign of understanding and she escorted you out. As you were riding to the address Connor sent you, you were still thinking about the diagnose she gave you, and the long way ahead to healing. The crime scene was in the financial district, again in the better parts of Detroit. On motorcycle the ride was even quicker than you thought it would be, but you still found Connor already waiting for you in front of the big glass-giant of a building, with his eyes rounded and his mouth slightly open as you hopped off from your bike.</p>
<p>            “Flies are going to fly into your mouth if you aren’t being careful.” You joked as you took off your helmet.</p>
<p>            “I thought humans won’t surprise me anymore after I got to know Hank… yet here you are.” Connor patted your cycle. “I’m sorry I dragged you here.”</p>
<p>            “Don’t be, please, rather tell me what happened.”</p>
<p>            Before he started to explain everything, you walked into the elevator and he pressed the button to the top floor. The elevator started to move smoothly upwards, Connor took out a small coin, and skilfully started playing with it, fidgeting it between his long fingers.</p>
<p>            “The victim is 27 years old Joseph Green from Lexington, Massachusetts. According to his best friend, David Nelson, the owner of this apartment, he came here for the weekend for a job interview, but the victim never mentioned what kind of work would that have been.”</p>
<p>            You knew that Connor thought of this as a suspicious sign, and he could very well be right. But something else caught your attention.</p>
<p>            “Did this David guy found the body?”</p>
<p>            “No. Actually one of the neighbours, Amanda Carter, found him, she is currently giving her testimony, you can go there if you would like, I will examine the body this time.</p>
<p>            As the elevator stopped you nodded and got out. Connor gestured towards Isabelle, who was talking to a woman, signing that she is the witness you were talking about, so you joined them while Connor went inside the apartment.</p>
<p>            “Hi Ava.” Isabelle whispered with a small smile, then put her professional face back on and turned back to the witness.” Miss Carter, this is Detective Blum, one of the detectives assigned to this case.”</p>
<p>            Amanda shook your hand with a polite smile, her calmness surprised you. The surprise must have been visible on your face, because she immediately noticed it.”</p>
<p>            “I know what you think Detective, but believe me, this is not the first dead body I have seen, nor the last I suppose. I work as a nurse in the St. Johns Hospital, so getting used to dead bodies is just an occupational hazard.”</p>
<p>            “I’m sorry Miss Carter, I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s just shocking and refreshing to see such a calm witness. Do you mind telling me what exactly happened? I would love to see the greater picture, and for this I need your side as well.”</p>
<p>            She sighed and started her story again. “About two hours ago I heard glass shattering, but it was very loud, and I thought that maybe someone broke a couple ones or something like that. To be honest I didn’t think much of it, until David, the guy who owns the apartment, called me to ask if I can check on his friend who stayed there, because they should have met an hour prior, but he didn’t show up and David couldn’t reach him. I have a spare key, because usually I water the plants, and when I got in, I found this poor guy dead.”</p>
<p>            “I see. Thank you very much for your cooperation Miss Carter.” You bid her farewell and turned to Isabelle. “Is David here?”</p>
<p>            Isabelle pointed towards a tall, blonde guy who talked to another officer. He was in a much worse condition, seemingly very disoriented and disturbed. After gently patting Isabelle on the shoulder you went there, nodded to the officer who questioned and turned toward David.</p>
<p>            “Good afternoon Mr. Nelson, I’m Detective Ava Blum. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions as well?”</p>
<p>            “N-no, of course not, but I told everything I know.</p>
<p>            You sighed, this guy was the typical witness you were talk to Amanda. Trying to remain patient, you showed him a reassuring smile.</p>
<p>            “I know Mr. Nelson, I just want to hear it for myself, rather than reading it, that’s all. So, Miss Carter told me that you called her, asking to check on Mr. Green, because he failed to show up for your meeting. Why didn’t you check on him yourself?”</p>
<p>            “You can’t possibly think I have done it right?” his sight jolted from you to the officer and back, and he became even more stressed. “I was at work, we planned to have lunch together, but since he didn’t come I stayed in the office, all of my co-workers can confirm that!”</p>
<p>            “Mr. Nelson, please, calm down! You are not a suspect; we just want to find out what happened. Why did you think something was wrong?”</p>
<p>            He calmed down a bit finally. “I know it will sound strange but I had a gut feeling. That’s all I know, I swear.”</p>
<p>            “Okay Mr. Nelson, I leave you be now. I’m truly sorry for your loss.”</p>
<p>            Something was of, your gut feeling told you the same as it told to David. Everything seemed familiar as you stepped in to the apartment you had the feeling that you have seen all of it before. The window, facing the neighbouring building’s roof, was shattered, and the body of the victim was lying only around three feet away, with a bloody wound on its chest. Connor and Daniel was in a heated conversation, up until Connor noticed your presence, then he left him behind and approached you with a strange expression. This expression gave away that he felt the same as you.</p>
<p>            “What is it?” you asked him, and fought off the urge smooth the wrinkles on his forehead with your thumb, like he did with you a couple of days ago.</p>
<p>            “I’m afraid we have the same murderer; this scene resembles too much with Mr. Burkhardt’s case. The weapon and the wound it caused seems to be the same, Mr. Green’s heart had been shot through as well. There is no forced entry, only a broken window, but that is from the bullet that was coming through. Also it is most likely that the killer was standing on the roof of the building that that window faced. Hank currently checks it out.”</p>
<p>            “Fuck…” quietly cursing, you sank deep into your thoughts and leaned to the jamb while staring at the body. He was young and looked so innocent, you didn’t understand why anybody would want to kill him or that Timothy guy. Especially the same guy. No one seemed to be in common with the two victims, they lived far from each other, and didn’t seem to even know each other or have any mutual friends. What was the murderer doing? Was it some kind of redemption or did he choose his victims randomly? If so, why exactly young men? Millions of questions circulated in your mind when Hank arrived with an even more troubled expression that Connor had.</p>
<p>            “I have a bad news ad some even worse.” Hank said, his deep, hoarse voice joined the quiet background noise that filled the room. “The building next to us is Hotel and a shit ton of people was in there. We checked the cameras, and saw the same man going up to the roof that killed that kid who had that strange name.”</p>
<p>            “Burkhardt.” Connor jumped in with the intention to help, but Hank waved him off and continued:</p>
<p>            “Yeah, that. So, his face can’t be seen again, and even though there is a shit ton of people inside, no one seemed to remember, not even the staff. He also didn’t leave anything behind, no fingerprints, no shells on the roof, again, we have nothing.”</p>
<p>            “We should find the link between the two man somehow.” You said. “We shall question everyone Joseph Green or Timothy Burkhardt knew, find anything that made them a target, revisit the scenes, pushing the results. Also pray that this was the last murder. One more and we are allegedly dealing with a serial killer and the media, and Fowler, will blow up if that’s the case.”</p>
<p>            The tension was visible in the room and the whole situation just got incredibly serious, because a long time has passed since this city saw its last serial killer. However, with the raging war in Europe that caused enough stress already it was the last thing people needed. So far Fowler was able to keep the media at peace, thus preventing general chaos and hysteria, but if a serial killer was working in the city it was his duty to warn the citizens. The sudden buzzing of your phone grabbed you out from your thoughts. Emilio sent you a message:</p>
<p>            &lt;<em>Tonight at Chuck’s?</em>&gt;</p>
<p>            A big grin has appeared on your face as you got in the elevator with Hank and Connor. You always thought that Emilio could feel when you needed something, and what you really needed now was a strong drink, so you quickly typed the answer:</p>
<p>            &lt;<em>Ffs Emilio, your timing is perfect. I’ll be there by 8.</em>&gt;</p>
<p>            Your Trio left the building and you knew what will happen next. Trying to stay undetected, you slowly sidled towards your motor, as if you just happened to go that way, but a loud groan from behind you gave away that he noticed your vehicle. Rolling your eyes, you turned to him, bracing yourself for his mountain speech.</p>
<p>            “I can’t believe you are still using that racing coffin…” he talked just like a grumpy, old dad. “Haven’t you seen enough corpses to know how dangerous this shit is? One would think that someone working for the police would fucking know, but…”</p>
<p>            “Hank, please.” Cutting him off was your only option now, you knew that, otherwise he wouldn’t shut up for hours. “We have been through this, please don’t even start. I won’t sell it, I told you. Please put up with it.</p>
<p>            “Hank groaned something to Connor about waiting for him in the car and took off without saying goodbye. While you sighed Connor stepped over to you, with a reassuring smile and every tension, sadness, nervousness you felt all day had just disappeared without a trace.</p>
<p>            “You know how he is.” He said, trying to make you a bit happier. “He will calm down soon, he just loves you deeply and sickly afraid that he will lose you. I can perfectly understand him.” In the last bit, his led blinked red for a short moment, but almost immediately turned back to blue so you hadn’t pay much attention to it.</p>
<p>            “I know, but sometimes he is a real pain in the ass… anyway, I was meant to ask if you would like to come to Chuck’s pub tonight? Emilio and I plan to hit it, and I thought that you could come with us.”</p>
<p>            A very unfamiliar expression had spread across Connor’s face for a moment, before he put up his usual smile. Was it hurt maybe? It disappeared so fast, making it impossible to tell, although you would have loved to know how he felt.</p>
<p>            “Thank you very much, I appreciate the invitation, but I don’t drink, so I think I will pass now.” As he said that a sudden, blunt pain appeared in your chest as if someone pressed your heart and you needed to admit to hope he would take up on the offer.</p>
<p>            “It’s not about drinking, but getting together.” You tried one last time, but it was just as hopeless as trying to prevent the Fall of Babylon. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”</p>
<p>            “Yes. But I think it will be good for you to talk with your old partner, he missed have missed you. I hope you will enjoy yourself.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>            Chuck’s bar was a common place for police officers and detectives as he used to be an officer back in his days as well. It wasn’t so different from other bars in the city, the only remarkable think was that no one dared to cause trouble who hasn’t worked for the police, as they knew they will be locked up pretty fast. Emilio was already sitting at a four-person table when you stepped in. Although you thought it was strange that he chose such a big table when many smaller were available, you didn’t question him, but gave him a big, greeting hug and sat down.</p>
<p>            “Before you ask, why I sit here, Gavin and Isabelle will join us shortly.” He explained as if reading in your mind, and your eyes widened.</p>
<p>            “Gavin?” you asked in disbelief. Isabelle was okay, she and Emilio were friends, but you didn’t think that many people favoured Gavin beside you and Isabelle.</p>
<p>            “Well, we are partners for a while now, so I need to get along with him. Also, I would be a prick to invite my good friend without her boyfriend, am I not?”</p>
<p>            At this point your jaw was on the floor. Even though you had many questions, you couldn’t ask him any, because the discussed couple waltzed in. After some greeting hugs, and a handshake between Gavin and Emilio, they sat down to the two remaining seats.</p>
<p>            “It’s good to see you back in our circles V.” Gavin patted your back. “To celebrate it, the first round is on me.” He indeed went to the counter and asked Chuck for two beers and two cocktails – the latter for Isabelle and you.</p>
<p>            “V?” Emilio asked. “Why did he call you V?”</p>
<p>            “It’s an old nickname, he always joked with my name, that it only consists of a ‘v’ besides the two ‘a’s, so he started calling me as V. But it is more important that how do you know they are together?!”</p>
<p>            “Well,” Isabelle seemed to be quicker with the desired answer, “someone was dumb enough to write things like ‘I love you’ and shit like that to me basically next to his partner, and I’m only glad he didn’t do that with juicier topics.”</p>
<p>            The was she said that, and looked dead at Gavin made Emilio and you bursting out laughing. As Gavin returned with the drinks in his hand he looked confused.</p>
<p>            “What?”</p>
<p>            “Nothing Babe, sit down.” Isabelle raised her glass and the three of you followed. “To Ava’s return!”</p>
<p>            “To Ava’s return!” the guys said together, which made you blush.</p>
<p>            For a couple of rounds, you all had some normal conversation about old, funny and also ongoing cases, Isabelle and you explained the burning situation with the two murders and Emilio and Gavin talked about their own stories. It was fun and familiar, like every normal night in the past. However, you had a bad feeling as Gavin drank more and more, you knew how much of an asshole he could be after drinking just a little bit too much. And as always, your gut feeling was right.</p>
<p>            “So Ava.” Gavin started, your nervousness only grew. “You are hanging out with the grumpy old alcoholic and his tin can ‘son’ nowadays, right?”</p>
<p>            “Oh man, I don’t think that it’s a good idea…” Emilio said.</p>
<p>            “Please don’t start this, Gavin.” Isabelle tried to stop him as well, but you knew that it was no use. You purposefully stayed silent and haven’t said anything to stop him, as you yourself had a bit too much as well and were curious about what did he have to say.</p>
<p>            “You mean Hank and Connor? Yes. Do you have any problem with that?”</p>
<p>            “Oh no, no. I’m just curious, why? I mean, we had shit ton of arguments about Hank, so I won’t start on that, don’t worry, but Robocop? What do you see in him? Because I heard about that creep hanging out in your place every night, and I can’t picture it. What are you doing? Are you into that android sex shit? Does he have a huge dick, that’s why you let him in every night?”</p>
<p>            Isabelle could kill him with her eyes and Emilio left his mouth open, neither could say anything from dismay. But you remained calm, if you lost your head, it was likely that you jumped onto his throat, so you took a deep breath.</p>
<p>            “Why do you care? What I do inside my house and bedroom is my business and not yours, especially when you are so disgustingly disrespectful.”</p>
<p>            “Disrespectful? No Ava, I’m just trying to understand why you befriend a nonhuman…”</p>
<p>            “Because people like me know what it is like to be classified as a nonhuman!” basically shouting you hit the table with both of your hands, and stood up so fast, that your chair would have fell over if Emilio hadn’t caught it. Most of the heads in the bar turned toward you and Emilio put his hand on yours in order to calm you down, but you only lowered your voice. “People like me know what it is like to be demonized because something is different in their life, in my life, as what is considered to be ‘normal’. Maybe here in America, in ‘the land of dreams and freedom’ being Jewish isn’t a big deal, but I have spent enough time abroad to know that in other countries it is among the deadly sins. And don’t forget, we were only kids when non-white people became equal to whites. Do you think it was a mistake? Of course not. Now, do you even know anything about Connor, or is it enough that he is an android, thus you are justified to hate him and be a prick? I love you Gavin, but when you act like this, I would really love to beat the shit out of you, because without even realising you support everything minorities fought so hard against. You do the same as people had done against Jewish people like me, Latinos like Emilio, black people, Indians, or women like Isabelle, and I could continue the list for hours. Just because you were birthed by a mother it doesn’t mean you get to decide who worth living and who doesn’t. So, if you are such a close minded asshole, at least shut up.”</p>
<p>            Anger was boiling inside you; the speech you just gave didn’t help you calm down. Followed by your three friends’ shocked gaze you stormed out of the bar, took out an unopened pack of cigarette from your pocket and leaning to the wall next to the entrance you lit one. The hot smoke burned town to your lungs, with the kind of burning that you missed undeniably. Enjoying every pull from the cigarette you closed your eyes for a moment, but then you heard Isabelle’s gasp and then felt her hand holding onto your free one.</p>
<p>            “You smoke again?! I thought you put this shit down.”</p>
<p>            “I did, sort of. Now I only smoke when I’m sad to the degree where I can’t take it anymore… or angry on the same level.”</p>
<p>            Isabelle looked down on her shoes and started to stroke your palm with her thumb.</p>
<p>            “I know that Gavin is a huge asshole but he loves you so much, you are like a sister to him. He didn’t mean to hurt or offend you.”</p>
<p>            “And he did none of that. He hurt and offended Connor and every android multiple times. I know it may be strange for you all that I look at them as living beings but I have been through a lot, side by side with androids and I know that they have feelings, thoughts, they are alive.”</p>
<p>            At that moment Emilio and Gavin came out of the bar. Seeing the latter made you roll your eyes and throw away your cigarette. What felt worse is when Isabelle joined Emilio and Gavin stood in front of you.</p>
<p>            "Hey V, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked, looking down at the ground the whole time. He took a couple of steps away from the entrance, and before you could follow, Emilio leaned in and whispered in your ear.</p>
<p>             "You will pay for leaving me behind with him after the whole scene!" In his voice there were the hints of a smile, which almost made you laugh.</p>
<p>              "Look Ava, I'm very sorry." Gavin pleaded when you stepped to him. "I really didn't mean to hurt you, and I drank a bit much and have not considered your feelings. I should never do that again. But you should know that I'm not supporting any of that shit you said, you know me, I'm not a racist for fucks sake, I just can't stand androids. I really don’t think these two are the same."</p>
<p>              You sighed, the typical ‘I’m not a racist, but’ sentence usually opened the knife in your pocket, but this time you knew that instead of attacking, you should educate him and use the influence you had on him.</p>
<p>              “I know Gavin, I know you. But still, I must ask you, that instead of hating, please, for my sake, try to know and understand them, okay? I'm asking you to stop harassing others, because without knowing you support and show an example to other racist groups. So will you do that for me?"</p>
<p>              He groaned seemingly in protest but then, hanged his head. Without a worded answer you knew he would be willing to fulfil your wish, both because Isabelle was right and he loved you like his own sister and, even though he would never admit that, your speech made him see the danger in his actions.</p>
<p>             At that moment a loud bang could be heard from a couple of streets away. Most likely it was a bad exhaust, but even though your mind knew that, your body reacted immediately: the instinct to secure everyone around you had overwritten everything, you tossed Gavin behind one of the parking cars, jumped next to him and reached for your gun. You planned to shout to Isabelle and Emilio to take cover, but when you couldn’t find your weapon or your holster on your side, something in your mind switched back and you realized what had happened. Isabelle, Emilio and especially Gavin looked at you dumbfounded and you buried your face in your palms both in embarrassment and disbelief. Looking into their eyes seemed impossible, until you felt Gavin stroking your back, Emilio’s arm around your shoulder and Isabelle’s hand in yours.</p>
<p>            “It’s okay Ava.” Emilio reassured you, smiling. “Come on, I think we had enough to drink tonight. We will see you home, okay?”</p>
<p>             You nodded. So far your return was more eventful than you hoped it would be, and you needed to admit that some rest was inevitable and important. Emilio helped you standing up and the four of you started walking home.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter Seven: Falling Apart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey ^^<br/>So, it seems like I'm back from my hiatus. A long time has passed in which I had to rebuild my life from the very bottom, but here I am, stronger than ever ^^ hope you will like the new chapter, if I made any big mistakes, or you like it, feel free to leave a comment :)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
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  <em>Chapter seven – Falling apart</em>
</p><p>            <span class="u">Connor:</span></p><p>            Connor was walking back and forth in his room, unable to sit down from the nervousness and just in need to distract himself. Every one of his scans showed that his stress level was way above normal, yet not a single analysis that he ran showed any error. It was frustrating, and soon the room began to rotate around him. He lay down, staring at the ceiling and just let Ava flood his mind, for the millionth time that evening.</p><p>            Why did he think of her so much? It wasn’t logical, nothing seemed to be around her, so many emotions that he hadn’t felt before. And the pictures in his head, her sad eyes, the way she clanged into his shirt when he put her to bed, and the sound of her laugh. Connor tried to compare these feelings to the ones he felt towards other humans in his life, but it was nothing like them. They even differed from the ones he felt towards Hank, although he was his closest friend, even a father figure.</p><p>            One feeling was clear for Connor, and it was that he missed her. He spent the last couple of nights with her, and now the absence was bothering, even left him worried. Many hours had passed like this, and after he realized that it is impossible to banish Ava from his mind, he decided that it would be the best if he tested out his feelings, by putting up some distance, at least for a short amount of time. Satisfied with his decision, and the new test to look forward to, Connor was finally able to shut down for the rest of the night.</p><p> </p><p>            <span class="u">Ava:</span></p><p>            Even though you thought that it will be impossible to look into your friends’ eyes after all they witnessed at the bar, Gavin and Isabelle insisted on spending the weekend together. Either you talked on one of your places or visited the parts of the town you missed so much, thus they made you forget that accident pretty fast. The only bothering thing was that you haven’t heard from Connor since the Green investigation has started and even though you did not realize just how much his presence meant for you, now being home alone or sleeping without him near was significantly harder, nearly impossible. Getting used to the good things was too easy and Hank didn’t make it easier, because he called you at least three or four times a night to check if you are okay. Although you loved him and appreciated that he was worried, he started to become a bit overprotective.</p><p>            Despite the good weekend you had, on Monday everything became worse. Because of Hank’s calls and your own thoughts, you didn’t get a glimpse of sleep, thus you went to work like a zombie. In addition, you spent almost the whole day on your phone with the Massachusetts Police Deputy, filling them in with the case and trying to make them understand that you don’t care about how much case they have and that they don’t want to work on this, they must cooperate with you and question everyone close to Joseph Green. In addition, Connor became very distant and every time you tried talking to him, he walked away as soon as he noticed you. Through the whole day he only talked to you once, about the results of the autopsy of the two victims and the ballistics, but these didn’t provide any new information, only confirmed your theories.</p><p>            Connor’s behaviour touched you way deeper than it should have, and you had no idea why. To make him disappear from your head you went into lone wolf mode and spent your days trying to find a connection between the victims, revisiting the crime scenes, going through every bit of evidence, but it seemed to be in vain, you found nothing new. Directing your attention toward the investigation and locking out everyone helped you sleep a little bit easier, however, your conscience was very heavy from Hank’s constant worry, Gavin’s, Isabelle’s and Emilio’s attempts to reach out to you and Fowler’s judging headshaking.</p><p>            On Thursday, your friend’s seemingly had enough. After launch break you were sitting by your desk, going through the witness’ testimonies, the ballistic and autopsy reports again for the thousandth time, when suddenly Gavin slammed his hands hard down onto the top of the desk.</p><p>            “That’s enough Ava.” He said while you looked up at him. “We are going to the gym. Now.”</p><p>            “What’s gotten into you Gavin?” your tone was calm, even though Gavin’s angry shouting turned half of the precinct’s attention towards you.</p><p>            “Into me?! YOU are the one who doesn’t answer to the calls or texts and went after your own head. Also I am worried for Hank, so you should know that something is bad. The old man is grumpier than usual and I don’t like him but I can’t work with him like this. So, you are coming with me, have a fucking workout and we are going to talk! Grab your shit and follow me!”</p><p>            Usually you took every chance to clap back at him, but now was not the time, also, he was right, you behaved selfish again, haven’t even thought of the others. With a sigh you grabbed your bag from your locker and with Gavin by your side, went up to the second floor, to the gym. Working out with him was both a therapy and a bonding action for you, because he never pissed you off by asking countless questions, he just helped you let out your rage on the machines or on the boxing dummy and after a while you two understood each other without words. Yet somehow, today seemed to be different. As you continuously hit the dummy that he held in place, he started to talk:</p><p>            “What happened with you V?” surprised, you stopped for a moment, but quickly re-organised yourself and hit the dummy even harder.</p><p>            “What… are you… talking about?” you asked in between hits, for which he rolled his eyes.</p><p>            “Oh come on, you are like a kid throwing a tantrum.” Gavin let go of the dummy in the middle of one of your hits, thus you fell over. Anger filled your gaze as you looked up at him, and with a quick move you pulled his legs out under him so with a shout he fell to his back. After the shock, a big, mischievous grin fill Gavin’s face as he looked at you. “Tin can doesn’t want to fuck you anymore? That is the problem?”</p><p>            That was a boundary he should have never crossed. You launched at him, fast as a bullet and with skilled moves you disarmed and pinned him to the ground, sitting on his back, holding his arm behind his back. He started to laugh and moan in pain, but however he tried he couldn’t break free. You laughed with him, genuinely, when you heard the sound of someone clearing his throat from the direction of the entrance. Looking up your jaw dropped to the floor, as you saw Connor, standing by the door, his face and posture completely neutral and emotionless like you didn’t even know each other. With a shock you crawled down of Gavin and stoop up, but even though you wanted to go closer to him, your legs didn’t seem to answer to the command sent by your brain, therefore you just stood there, next to the equally shocked and still lying Gavin. You had no idea why did you freeze so sudden, or feel embarrassment but there was just something in his eyes that set you off.</p><p>            “I’m sorry to interrupt Detectives, but I have to talk to Detective Blum.” Connor said, his words and voice were so cold they sent shivers down your spine. Bluntly you followed him to the corridor, where he turned to you. “We got a call from the Massachusetts police, they questioned everyone and sent us the testimonies. I read them through already, but I thought maybe you wanted to have a look as well, although they do not say anything new.”</p><p>            “So we still don’t have anything…” finally you managed to press out the words, so you didn’t seem like a complete idiot.</p><p>            “Exactly. Now then, I will send the files to you.”</p><p>            With that, Connor turned around to go away, but you weren’t ready to let him go so easily, you wanted to talk to him a bit more, maybe get some explanations. Following a sudden urge, you grabbed his hand in order to stop him, never minding the electricity bolting through your body, even though it was stronger than ever. Now it was obvious that he felt it too, because he pulled his hand back as soon as you touched him, but he finally looked at you.</p><p>            “Connor, why are you avoiding me? Did I offend you in any way?”</p><p>            “I do not really understand where is this coming from, because I’m not avoiding you, I’m just trying to maintain a professional relationship, same as with everybody else.” In his eyes the same, strange and cold expression appeared as he glanced toward the gym. You looked back and saw Gavin stepping out, with a confused look on his face, and when Connor noticed him an aggressive aura started to linger around his tall figure. “I just do the same as I would do with everybody else. I don’t see any particular reason why I should treat you differently.”</p><p>            The coldness in his voice and the indifference on his face was fuel to an already raging fire. His harsh words boiled up anger inside you, because you thought that all nights that you spent together, talking and bonding was enough of a reason for him to treat you differently. Now it just seemed like you were chasing false dreams again. Disappointed and sad, you left without another word, not stopping until you were safe inside the changing room. There you stepped into the shower and started to run the hot water to ease your body and mind, to be able to think through all the questions that built up. Why did his words hurt so much? What did he mean to you? Was it just another friend’s betrayal that set you off, or rather that it was <em>him</em> who made you disappointed? Right now he really felt like a heartless machine, that made you wonder if it was the real him, and everything you saw so far was just one big facade. If that was true, you weren’t interested in the rest of him.</p><p>             After the shower you dressed back into your everyday clothes and wanted to head out, but bumped into someone. As you looked up from the broad chest you could see Connor’s brown eyes, the eyes that were usually so warm and friendly, but now had a certain distance and disinterest in them. For a moment your gazes intervened before you tried to go around him and leave, but he grabbed your arm, not hard enough to make you hurt, just hard enough to stop you. You instantly yanked it away, and turned to look him dead in the eye.</p><p>            “What do you want?” you almost spitted the words out, at this point you were more than pissed off.</p><p>            “I do not think I understand what your problem is.” He said, his voice was still machine-like. “We are co-workers, partners and I treat you according to that. Yet you still act like I offended you. Can you please explain why is that?”</p><p>            On one hand he generally sounded like he didn’t know what he did wrong, and you took in a deep breath, prepared to explain it calmly. “You know… I kind of thought that we were becoming friends, yet in the past couple of days you suddenly started to ignore me completely… okay, not completely.” You added when he opened his mouth to reject your claim. “You were willing to talk to me about our case, I give you that.”</p><p>            “Can you elaborate what else did you expect from me? We met two weeks ago, and although I may not know much about human relationships, from what I gathered it is not enough for a proper friendship to develop. Naturally you could refer to those nights I spent at your apartment, but you should be aware that I did it to help Hank, because he was really worried for you.”</p><p>            Somehow he still managed to hurt you even more than he already did, and your heart shattered into a million little pieces. Now you weren’t able to contain your rage anymore, with trembling hands you stepped closer to him, your neck hurt from looking up at him, and you hissed the words out:</p><p>            “Then you should also be aware that I don’t need your help anymore. I don’t want to see you near my home again and I don’t want to come to me, only when you want to talk about the case. Otherwise stay the hell out of my way.”</p><p>            Surprise brushed over his face as you turned around and walked away. The number one priority was to get out of the station as fast as possible, so you grabbed your bag and ignored everyone as you ran out. Anger quickened your steps and you couldn’t wait to get home, watch your favourite comfort films in the company of some chocolate and candy.</p><hr/><p>           Night slowly approached as you put up one movie after another and consumed countless amount of sweets. You had no idea why Connor’s behaviour made you feel so down, you liked to tell yourself that it was because he was another friend who betrayed you and made it harder for you to trust in people. Still, you tried everything to distract your thoughts of him.</p><p>           When you heard the knock on the door, your heart sank and your hands trembled as you went to open it. However, you found yourself in front of Isabelle, who wore a very concerned expression on her face.</p><p>           “Oh hi Izzy.” You said, and perhaps sounded a bit disappointed. “How can I help you? Or is it becoming a habit for people to just randomly show up at my door?”</p><p>           Without a word she pushed you aside and dragged you to the couch. As you studied her, she seemed somewhat angry, maybe confused as she pushed you down and started to walk around the room. A sigh has escaped your mouth as you watched her playing with her hair and chewing on her lips, waiting to hear what she has to say. You were ready for the storm.</p><p>           “Okay.” Isabelle started surprisingly calm and sat down next to you, grabbing your hands. “To be honest, I was planning to talk to you, no, <em>scream</em> at you today. But then I learned that Gavin was faster and he also told me that… Ava, be honest with me, what are your feelings toward Connor?”</p><p>           “What do you mean?” it meant to be an innocent question, then why did you sound like you were caught doing something wrong?</p><p>           “What do you think I mean? Everything is fine and fun, you are readjusting to your life, until Connor goes no-contact with you. Upon that you become totally depressed and lock us all out. Tell me, what am I supposed to think?”</p><p>           It had to be admitted that put like this, the situation did seem a bit strange, you didn’t even know how to explain it yourself. Your mouth opened and closed as you tried to say something, but nothing came to your mind.</p><p>           “He is just a friend Izzy.” You sighed at the end, hanging your head low. “Or I thought he was. I just don’t understand why is he acting so cold toward me all of a sudden, when I gave him no reason to do that. But that’s all, I swear.”</p><p>           “You do realize that you do the same with us? And I don’t mean it as a scold, but I know you honey, you don’t go into ‘full-lone’ mode without a reason and right now I see two things that could trigger it: all the things you went through, or Connor. I may not know much about any of them, but you know that you can talk to me about anything, whenever you want, right? I want to help you dear.”</p><p>           Yes, you knew, but how can you tell her something you yourself didn’t even know? Your head was filled with all kinds of thoughts and it was like one big knot, you couldn’t part one thing from the other.</p><p>           “Izzy I really have no idea what to say… My head is like a beehive, always full, I just need time. Right now I can’t help but feel lost, but I must admit that I shouldn’t have push you away. I promise I take your hand and find my way home, okay?”</p><p>           Her smile was genuine and happy as she hugged you tight. When she parted you, a big and unsettling grin was all over her face.</p><p>           “Let’s play a game.” G-d how much you hated when she said that, because it was always followed by something disastrous. However, you knew you had no choice but to go along, to make up for ignoring her. “I know it isn’t the most important thing right now, but let’s start your journey by figuring out what you feel for Connor, with a game called ‘Do you have the hots for them?’. I will ask you questions and you have to answer fast and honestly. Okay?”</p><p>           “Izzy I told you I don’t…”</p><p>           “<strong>Got it, sweetie?</strong>”</p><p>           “Yes Ma’am.” You sighed and laughed.</p><p>           She clapped gleefully for a moment, and you shook your head. She always stick her nose where it didn’t belong, especially when your life and choices were on the table.</p><p>           “Now that’s the spirit! First question: what do you think about Connor?”</p><p>           “Okay… I thiiiiink that…. He is kind, thoughtful, he has a big heart, although I don’t know if this side of him real anymore. But what I do know is that he is <span class="u">alive</span>, despite what many people think of him… of them.”</p><p>           “Oooooh, you are more willing than I thought you would. Next question: how do you feel around him?”</p><p>           “Relaxed, joyful, safe… feelings I thought I lost forever. Ever since he stepped inside my apartment for the first time I felt better and better every day. I slept better when he was around, and it felt good to talk about our feelings, thoughts throughout the nights. But that’s just something that is natural with a friend, I feel good around you too, and I also love talking to you.”</p><p>           “Yeah, yeah, it’s totally the same. Next: did you tell him what you went through?”</p><p>           Now this was a heavy topic to mention, but you could understand why she had asked that. She wanted to help and wanted to take off the burden of your struggles of your shoulders, and at the same time she didn’t rush you into telling everything. Even though you wanted to talk to her about these, you just couldn’t.</p><p>           “No.” your voice was barely more than a whisper. “Do you think I would tell him, before I tell you?”</p><p>           Isabelle smiled and squeezed your hand. “Okay, next: how were you feeling today after talking to him?”</p><p>           “Angry, pained, empty… it hurt, alright? But that’s all.”</p><p>           She fell silent for a couple of moments, her brows furrowed as she was deep into her thoughts. “You started to like him more than you thought you would, am I right?”</p><p>           You would have loved to be able to discard her claims, but you couldn’t. It sounded ridiculous, but if you looked deeper into it, a little voice in the back of your mind told you that she was right. Still, especially after what happened during the day it felt too early to admit it even for yourself, let alone to her.</p><p>           “This is madness Izzy, let’s just drop this, okay?” you basically pleaded, but she was an officer and wouldn’t budge so easily.</p><p>           “There is always some madness in love, however, there is also always some reason in madness.” She replied and a smirk appeared on her face. Now it started to feel like an interrogation and you couldn’t just sit still anymore, so you jumped up and started to pace around the room. Isabelle watched you taking rounds in the room, your arms tightly crossed on your chest. After a couple of rounds, you stopped in front of her and let out a huge puff of air.</p><p>           “Izzy, baby, right now all I can tell you is that I wanted to be his friends, because he is not only my partner, but Hank’s son. It hurts, because it isn’t hard for me to imagine why someone would try to avoid being my friend. I let down and hurt everyone around me. I… I never meant to hurt you Izzy… or Gavin, or Hank… I’m so sorry…”</p><p>           The smirk disappeared and a shocked expression took its place. She stood up, unfolded your arms and took you into a strong embrace.</p><p>           “Ava, no one can blame you, okay? You did what you had to and we all understand that, neither of us blames you or feels let down, we just don’t know how to help, other than waiting for you to open up.”</p><p>           “And I will, I promise you I will…” tears began to ran down on your face and you buried your face into Izzy’s shoulder. She gently pulled you down back into the soft cushions of the couch. You were sitting in each other’s arms and she gently rubbed your back.</p><p>           “Come on, let’s talk about something lighter.” Izzy said. For the next two hours, you talked about her blooming relationship with Gavin, her upcoming exam, with which you helped to prepare for and ran through your case together. You put up a big white board onto your wall and put on every information you knew about the two homicide, but yet neither of you could find any link.</p><p>           After another restless night, you tried to ignore the lump in your throat and focus on the case, putting the whole Connor-thing aside. You even managed to act normal around your collegues and friends, laughing and joking around with them. Your only issue was for the day is to avoid Connor, and every time he got into the same room as you were in, or got closer to you, you just hurried as far as possible. At one point in the early afternoon you hid inside the evidence room, and while it was just for avoiding him, it proved to be the best decision you could make. To pass the time you went through the evidences of the cases again and noticed something that was missed by everyone, including Connor, Hank and you. You stared at the two small Ziploc bags in awe, when the sliding door opened.</p><p>           “Ava, can I talk to you for a second?” Connor’s smooth voice made you jump. Although right now your mind was full with the new information you might gathered, you didn’t fail to notice that his expression was way softer compared to yesterday, and a slight of guilt lingered in his eyes as approached you. Normally you would die to hear what he had to say, but now you just had to share your findings with him.</p><p>           “Connor, I think I found something.” The excitement in your voice attracted his attention and he took the two Ziploc bags you handed him. Both of the bags contained one small, black ribbon, with a unique symbol on the bottom of them: a skull, under that a bullet and both of them was crossed with the peace symbol. Connor’s eyebrows furrowed as he studied the ribbons, his LED blinked in yellow and after a couple of seconds he looked back at you.</p><p>           “This symbol cannot be found in any database that exists. I recognise the so-called ‘peace’ symbol, used during the hippie-movement in the 1960’s and 1970’s, but in this context I dare to say that it is completely new.”</p><p>           “Exactly! These ribbons were found on the victims, they carried it with themselves, so either it was dear to them or they needed to have it for some reason. Connor, we found a link! We just have to find out what this means or what could it represent and maybe we will have a motive.” You almost started to jump around in glee when your phone started to ring. Looking at the screen you smiled. “Hey Hank, whaddup?”</p><p>           “I have no idea where you and Connor disappeared, but you should come back, now.” In his voice there was nervousness and sadness. “We’ve got another body.”</p><p>           Naturally Connor could hear your short conversation with his super android-hearing, and you looked at each other in disbelief as you lowered your phone. Although the situation was kind of clear now, you still hoped that the obvious wasn’t reality and this body wasn’t linked to the other two. Because if it was, then a serial killer rampaged in the city you all swore, and supposed to protect.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Well hello again :D</p><p>I just wanna say, that if you have any question feel free to ask, also if this chapter was too short (or too long) lemme know, and I do my best for the next one ^^ I'm planning on updating every week, I hope I can keep up with that schedule :D</p></blockquote></div></div>
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